On May 25 2020 the murder of George Floyd shocked the nation and the world as a clear case of police brutality was caught on film and immediately shared around the globe. The fallout from the murder of George Floyd would consume US cities with riots popping off across the United States. In this article we are going to take a closer look at the murder of George Floyd
George Floyd Murder Timeline
On May 25 2020 George Floyd went into a corner store in Minneapolis Minnesota in order to purchase a pack of cigarettes. George Floyd handed the store clerk a twenty dollar bill. The clerk believing that the twenty dollar bill was counterfeit asked George Floyd for the cigarettes back which Floyd refused to do. The store clerk would call police telling the dispatched that he suspected the twenty dollar bill was fake and that George Floyd appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Minneapolis Officer Thomas Lane and Officer James Alexander Kueng arrived on the scene, 8:08 pm, and would find George Floyd sitting in a vehicle around the corner with three other men.
Officer Thomas Lane asked George Floyd to show his hands and when he did not he was asked to do so again. George Floyd would apologize and open the door of the vehicle. Officer Lane would order Floyd three more times to show him his hands before drawing his gun and pointed it at Floyd. George Floyd would comply and the Officer would holster his weapon.
A person in the car behind the vehicle that George Floyd was in started to tape the interaction with police at 8:10 am
George Floyd was removed from the vehicle and handcuffed. Officer Kueng would sit Floyd on the sidewalk and began to question him regarding the clerk’s suspicion that he was under the influence. George Floyd would admit to using earlier in the day.
At 8:12 George Floyd was told he was being put under arrest for using counterfeit currency. As Floyd was being led to the patrol car he would collapse on the street. The two Officers would pick George Floyd up and continued to lead him to the patrol car. George would tell the Officers that he was claustrophobic, recovering from Covid-19 and had anxiety and did not want to sit in the patrol car.
At 8:17 Officer Derek Chauvin and Officer Tou Thao arrived at the scene. Officer Chauvin would take control of the scene. George Floyd who was bleeding around his mouth was telling the Officers he was having trouble breathing.
At 8:18 George Floyd and Officer Kueng were struggling in the back seat of the police car with Kueng appearing to be attempting to drag Floyd to the driver side of the vehicle.
At 8:19 Officer Chauvin would pull George Floyd across the back seat of the vehicle and Floyd would exit the police vehicle. George Floyd who was still handcuffed at this time fell to the ground (it is unclear whether the Officer pulled him out or George Floyd exited willingly)
At 8:20 Officer Chauvin would put his knee between the head and shoulder of George Floyd. Two bystanders would start filming what would turn out to be a tragic event.
During the next few minutes George Floyd would tell the Officers sixteen times that he could not breathe. Witnesses could be heard telling the Officers to let Floyd breathe that he was not resisting.
At 8:22 Officer Lane called for an ambulance for a non emergency call as Floyd was bleeding at the mouth. A minute later the call was upgraded to an emergency call
At 8:25 George Floyd appeared to be unconscious. Many bystanders started to approach the police demanding they let George Floyd up. Officer Lane would pull out a pepper spray canister and demand the bystanders step away. Officer Kueng would try to find a pulse on George Floyd and failed to do so. The Officers did not attempt to perform and life saving procedures.
At 8:27 the ambulance would arrive on the scene. Officer Chauvin knee would remain on the neck of George Floyd for a minute and a half after the paramedics arrived.
The paramedics who would call for back up enroute to the scene would find George Floyd in cardiac arrest and would once again call for back up. The Minneapolis fire department would show up at 8:32. George Floyd was loaded onto a stretcher and brought to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:25 pm
Minneapolis Police Reaction To George Floyd Death
The Minneapolis police would release a press statement on May 26, 2020
“After he got out, he physically resisted officers,” MPD said in a statement. “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”
As you can see from the above statement that no mention of the fact that Officer Chauvin had his knee on the neck of George Floyd and such action most likely caused the medical distress.
The four Officers were at first put on paid administration leave however after all of the videos came forward of the event the four Officers were fired later that day.
The Minneapolis Police Department would later make a statement that they had called in the FBI to perform an investigation on what took place.
On June 3, 2020 Officer Chauvin was charged with second degree murder and second degree manslaughter. The other three Officers were charged with aiding and abetting second degree murder
George Floyd Murder Officers Involved
Derek Chauvin – Derek Chauvin is a former Minneapolis Police Officer who before the George Floyd event he was involved in three police shooting with one of them being fatal. At the time of his firing he had been with the police department for nineteen years.
Tou Thao – Tou Thao is a former Minneapolis Police Officer who had a series of complaints made regarding his aggressiveness during arrests. Tou Thao had a lawsuit where he was named after the person was left with broken teeth and time spent in a hospital which was settled for $25,000. Tou Thao was with the police force since 2009 however he stopped working for two years and returned in 2012.
James Kueng – James Kueng is a former Minnapolis Police Officer who was still in his first year with the department at the time of the George Floyd event. An earlier incident of police brutality involved James Kueng, Thomas Lane and Derek Chauvin was caught on video on May 3, 2020 where a person being detained was roughly thrown to the ground.
Thomas Lane – Thomas Lane is a former Minneapolis Police Officer who was in his first year with the department at the time of the George Floyd Event. As mentioned before Thomas Lane was involved in another alleged police brutality event. Thomas Lane and James Kueng were training with Derek Chauvin at the time of the George Floyd murder.
George Floyd Murder Videos
George Floyd More News
The fired Minneapolis police officer who held his knee to George Floyd’s neck agreed to plead guilty to third-degree murder days after Floyd’s death, but then-Attorney General William Barr rejected the deal.
Derek Chauvin and the three other officers involved were fired days after Floyd’s death on May 25 and later arrested. Chauvin faces second-degree murder charges and is scheduled for trial in March. The other three are charged with aiding and abetting and are to be tried together in the summer.
The details of the failed deal were first reported by The New York Times.
A former Justice Department official confirmed the failed deal to NBC News, saying that both politically appointed and career Department of Justice officials had rejected the idea.
“His lawyers were trying to rush us, and we didn’t want to be rushed,” the official said.
Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, declined to comment Thursday
A spokesperson for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is leading the prosecution, said he could not comment because it covers a period before Ellison was assigned to the case.
Lacey Severins, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County attorney’s office, which was handling the case at the time, said: “As is typical in many cases, early negotiations can occur between all relevant parties involved. Many times, a defendant will explore their options with a negotiation. It is also common for these types of discussions to happen in the beginning of a case and then have no agreed upon negotiations develop. This case was no different. Negotiations were discussed, nothing developed.”
Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.
“As part of the deal, officials now say, he was willing to go to prison for more than 10 years,” the Times reported. “Local officials, scrambling to end the community’s swelling anger, scheduled a news conference to announce the deal.”
But the deal fell apart, the Times reported, citing three law enforcement officials, because Barr worried that it was too early in the investigation and would be perceived as too lenient. Barr also wanted to allow state officials taking over the case time to make their own decisions, the Times reported.
Chauvin had asked to serve his time in a federal prison, and the deal was contingent on the federal government’s approval because Chauvin wanted assurance he would not face federal civil rights charges, the Times reported.
It would be highly unusual for the Justice Department to agree in advance to stop a civil rights investigation and forgo any possible federal prosecution before state proceedings have fully played out.
The incident involving Floyd was recorded by a bystander and widely shared on social media. Police were investigating whether he used a counterfeit $20 bill at a nearby store.
The video shows Floyd begging, “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Please, please. I can’t breathe,” before he went silent.
