The Minneapolis police officer who pinned George Floyd’s neck leading to his death in Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday afternoon.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner announced it has made “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” The preliminary results of the May 26 autopsy were included in the statement of probable cause for charges against Chauvin. The medical examiner suggested underlying health conditions contributed to Floyd’s death. Floyd’s family said it will seek an independent autopsy.
Reacting to the violent protests that erupted after the video of Floyd’s death went viral, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in an emotional news conference that the unrest that has destabilized Minneapolis and St. Paul this week is the result of ‘generations of pain, of anguish’ over racism in policing.
“The fires still smolder in our streets,” he said. “The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a mandatory nighttime curfew this weekend. The curfew is in effect Friday and Saturday nights from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. It bans travel on any public street or in a public space in the city.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, during a virtual address called on every American to confront the nation’s historic racial injustices, and said those who remain silent are “complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence.”
Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins said Floyd and Chauvin knew each other for many years because they worked security at the same night club. Both men worked at El Nuevo Rodeo on Lake Street before their fatal encounter.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) encouraged residents to see the National Guard, which Walz activated late Thursday, as a calming force and not an occupying one.
President Trump denied that the phrase he used in early morning tweets, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” was meant as a threat.
He distanced himself from the history of the phrase and said in a tweet what he meant was he hadn’t wanted anyone else to get hurt.
