Just hours after a video depicting a police officer forcibly placing his knee on the neck of an unarmed handcuffed Black man (who later died due to complications from the incident) went viral, four Minneapolis police officers – including the perpetrator – have been fired.
Details inside:
*The video contains images some may find disturbing*
“Four Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody were fired Tuesday after a bystander’s video showed the man pleading that he could not breathe as a white officer knelt on his neck.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tweeted about the firings, saying “This is the right call.”
The man’s death Monday night after he struggled with officers was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities. It drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after he was placed in a chokehold by police and pleaded for his life, saying he could not breathe.”
The man who died has been identified as George Floyd by Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights and personal injury attorney who’s hired by Floyd’s family.
“We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck,” Crump said in a statement. “This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge.”
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