Police officer filmed kneeling on George Floyd's neck charged with murder

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/29/derek-chauvin-police-officer-charged-george-floyd

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Derek Chauvin charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter as county prosecutor suggests additional charges may be brought

Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer captured on video kneeling on the neck of 46-year-old George Floyd as he begged for his life, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

“There may be subsequent charges later,” Mike Freeman, the lead prosecutor for Hennepin county, told reporters at a press conference. He said a detailed complaint would be made available on Friday afternoon.

The state’s bureau of criminal apprehension took Chauvin into custody, but did not specify where the 19-year veteran is being held.

The charges came as Andrea Jenkins, the city council vice-president, claimed Floyd and Chauvin knew each other having both worked as bouncers at a local nightclub.

Smoke hung over the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis on Friday after demonstrators stormed and burned down the city’s 3rd police precinct, the headquarters of the officers involved in Floyd’s death.

As flames engulfed the building, chants of Floyd’s name and “No justice, no peace” could be heard. Protesters cheered and celebrated with fireworks, while police officers watched from two blocks away but did not intervene.

Floyd died in police custody on Monday after the white officer handcuffed him before kneeling on his neck for several minutes, despite Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe.

Four officers, including Chauvin, were fired.

Cellphone video footage of Floyd suffocating under the officer’s knee has gone viral, prompting three nights of protests in Minneapolis and reigniting longstanding anger over systemic racism in America, especially in the criminal justice system.

While the majority of protesters were peaceful, some demonstrators looted businesses and set fires in Minneapolis, seven people were shot and injured in demonstrations in Louisville, more than 40 people were arrested in New York city, and shots were fired as protesters blocked traffic in downtown Denver.

“I’m really angry about George Floyd because we went through all of this with Michael Brown [who was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014] and it seems nothing changes,” said Marie Johnson, who described herself as black and Native American, as she stood watching the looting in Minneapolis.

“But I’m not at peace with this either. I get that people are angry but it feels like a lot of people here are just grabbing the opportunity for free shopping.”

In Louisville, protesters had turned out to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman fatally shot by police in her home in March.

The families of Taylor, Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger who was recently killed by two white male vigilantes – including a retired police officer – in Georgia, released a statement late on Thursday calling their killings part of “a national crisis”.

“Our government needs to take immediate and widespread action to protect our black and brown communities,” the statement read. “It’s important that now more than ever [that] we use our voices to enact change, demand accountability within our justice system and keep the legacies of Breonna, Ahmaud and George alive.”

The families appeared in a joint press conference on Friday to call for more police accountability.

Trump denounced protesters as “thugs” on Thursday night and appeared to threaten lethal force, tweeting that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.

Trump has previously avoided commenting on incidents of police brutality against black people.

Twitter hid Trump’s post, saying it violated their policies “regarding the glorification of violence”, but the official White House Twitter account reposted it on Friday morning. The looting phrase comes from notorious Miami police chief Walter Headley, who, in 1967, advocated for policing policies that primarily cracked down on black people in the city.

Joe Biden tweeted that he would not “lift up” Trump’s statement, adding: “I will not give him that amplification, but he is calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many. I’m furious, and you should be too.”

Trump also faced intense backlash to the tweet that spread outside political circles. Pop star Taylor Swift joined the uproar on Friday, vowing to “vote [Trump] out in November” “after stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism [his] entire presidency”.

Barack Obama later called for Americans to come together to heal the country’s “legacy of bigotry”.

“This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America,” Obama said, referring to the discrimination many Americans experience in their day to day lives, and called on Americans to come together to create a “new normal” to root out institutional racism.

Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, a Democrat, had called in the national guard on Thursday evening as Minneapolis faced escalating unrest. More than 500 soldiers were reportedly deployed across the metro area, but with the principal task of protecting the city’s fire department.

“It is time to rebuild,” Walz said. “Rebuild the city, rebuild our justice system, and rebuild the relationship between law enforcement and those they’re charged to protect. George Floyd’s death should lead to justice and systemic change, not more death and destruction.”

On Friday, the governor said “the situation on the ground doesn’t allow” for officials to “tackle issues behind George Floyd’s death”.

On Friday morning, Omar Jimenez, a black CNN reporter, was arrested live on air as he covered the Minneapolis protests, with police providing no reason for his detention.

CNN later confirmed, Jimenez’s white colleague, Josh Campbell, was also stopped just a block away but was let go after showing police his press credentials. Walz said he was “deeply sorry” for the arrest, and Jimenez was later released.