The Final Call

The city of Minneapolis experienced days of unrest after 46-year-old George Floyd, a native of Houston, Texas, was killed on Memorial Day by former police officer Derek Chauvin. The death was captured on a 10-minute video that soon went viral and sparked coast-to-coast outrage.

The video shows Mr. Floyd face down in the street, with Mr. Chauvin’s knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck as the Black man cries out, “I can’t breathe.” The incident brought back memories of Eric Garner being choked to death on a Staten Island sidewalk by former New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo in 2014.

While the video of Mr. Floyd’s last moments is hard to watch and triggering for Black people tired of seeing fatal police encounters with Black people, in Minneapolis feelings of anger turned to outrage, particularly as Hennepin County attorney Michael Freeman initially announced no charges had been filed against officers Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueing. All were swiftly fired by Chief Medaria Arradondo for their involvement in Mr. Floyd’s death.

But after several days of rebellion, Mr. Chauvin was arrested May 29 and taken into custody by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. In a statement after the arrest, Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh said, “What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on [Memorial Day] has been a visceral pain [for] a community trying to understand who we are, and where we go from here.”

The other officers involved, at Final Call press time, had not been detained. Mr. Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The Floyd family and activists demanded that the other officers involved in the deadly arrest be charged. Mr. Chauvin, who has a history of misconduct charges, has faced 18 accusations of wrongdoing over his career. He was reprimanded twice.

Maya Santamaria, former owner of the El Nuevo Rodeo Club, told the media that Mr. Floyd and Mr. Chauvin worked security at the Latin night spot. She doubts they knew each other. Mr. Chauvin, however, was skittish and overreacted when incidents arose on nights where the club catered to Black patrons, she said. He, and other White officers working security off -duty, would use pepper spray, beat women, punch people, and call on duty cops for minor incidents, she added.

Ms. Santamaria said Mr. Floyd was well-liked. She was hurt by the way Mr. Floyd was handled and died.

“That video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person should do that,” county prosecutor Freeman said in an initial press conference. The next day he announced the charges against Mr. Chauvin.

Police officers are allowed to use what is considered reasonable force when restraining citizens, but that force cannot be excessive.

Mr. Freeman was a central figure in the first ever Minneapolis police officer being charged with and convicted of murder while on duty. In July 2017, Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American, shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk, a 40-year-old White Australian woman, after she called 911 to report a possible assault behind her home.

Mr. Freeman argued Mr. Noor abused his authority when he used deadly force against Ms. Ruszczyk. Unlike the situation with George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, there was no audio or video of the incident. Last June, Mr. Noor was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on charges of manslaughter and third-degree murder. Ms. Ruszczyk’s family was awarded $20 million by the city of Minneapolis for her death.

Condemnation across the country

With the Floyd death, the rebuke of the officers from around the country was swift, and strong. On social media, police officers of all races used their personal accounts to condemn the Minnesota officers’ actions. The National Black Police Association wrote on Facebook, “[George Floyd’s] death was unnecessary and grossly negligent. The question becomes the true intent of the officers, and the ongoing law enforcement conversation surrounding the preventable deaths of Black citizens, which is often an aspect of policing that goes unresolved in response to these deadly incidents.”

The NBPA added, “Let’s speak truths: In America, it is clear the humanity of Black people appears invisible to law enforcement. What other explanation would there be for Chauvin to lean on the neck of a hand-cuffed Black man until he dies?”

Unrest and outrage rocked the Twin Cities—St. Paul and Minneapolis—with damage or destruction to several hundred buildings and businesses and the torching of the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct, which was home to officers involved in the Floyd death.

President Donald Trump went so far as to threaten state-sanctioned violence against the protestors. In a tweet, the president wrote, “These thugs are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control. But when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Mr. Trump seemed to be echoing the phrase used in 1967 by Miami police chief Walter Headley in an interview with the Miami Herald, where he also said that, “85 percent of all violent crimes involve negroes.”

Ironically, that messaging stands in stark contrast to a tweet Mr. Trump sent on January 12 in response to protests in Iran, to which he wrote, “To the leaders of Iran, DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTORS. Thousands have already been killed by you, and the World is watching.”

He later tried to walk back the looting and shooting comments, which had drawn widespread condemnation.

Racial history, hostility in a ‘liberal city’

Harry “Spike” Moss, longtime Minneapolis resident and community activist, is very familiar with Michael Freeman, who served as Hennepin County attorney from 1990-1999, and then ran again in 2006—defeating former Democratic presidential nominee Amy Klobuchar. He has served in the position ever since.

While county prosecutor, Ms. Klobuchar, now a U.S. senator, failed to prosecute then-officer Chauvin for police abuses.

“[Michael Freeman] has let go of every case that I know of, on our behalf,” Mr. Moss told The Final Call. “Who has the position of power in most major cities? A White racist. And a White racist will never see anything wrong with what White people do to do Black people.”

Mr. Chauvin had a long history of alleged abuses during his 19-year career as a Minneapolis police officer. In 2006, Mr. Chauvin was one of six officers cleared in the fatal shooting of Wayne Reyes. In 2008, Mr. Chauvin shot Ira Latrell Toles in the abdomen in a domestic disturbance call.

In 2017, officer Tou Thao, who stood by and watched as Mr. Floyd lay helplessly on the ground, was sued for excessive force for throwing a handcuffed man to the ground. The city of Minneapolis settled the case for $250,000.

Under Minnesota law, police officers must intervene when a fellow cop is misusing his authority or engaged in excessive use of force.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Mr. Chauvin, police received a call from a store saying a man had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Officers arrived and approached Mr. Floyd who was in nearby car. He was taken out of the car, after an officer initially approached and pulled a gun. Mr. Floyd was handcuff ed, sat on the ground and was told he was being arrested for passing counterfeit currency.

As the officers tried “to walk Mr. Floyd to their squad car (MPD 320) at 8:14 p.m., Mr. Floyd stiffened up, fell to the ground, and told the officers he was claustrophobic. MPD Officers Derek Chauvin (the defendant) and Tou Thoa then arrived in a separate squad car,” says the document.

Officers tried unsuccessfully to get Mr. Floyd into the back-seat of a squad car and he “struggled with the officers by intentionally falling down, saying he was not going in the car, and refusing to stand still. … While standing outside the car, Mr. Floyd began saying and repeating that he could not breathe. … The defendant [Mr. Chauvin] pulled Mr. Floyd out of the passenger side of the squad car at 8:19:38 p.m. and Mr. Floyd went to the ground face down and still handcuff ed. … The defendant placed his left knee in the area of Mr. Floyd’s head and neck. Mr. Floyd said, ‘I can’t breathe’ multiple times and repeatedly said, ‘Mama’ and ‘please,’ as well. The defendant and the other two officers stayed in their positions.”

“The officers said, ‘You are talking fine’ to Mr. Floyd as he continued to move back and forth. Lane asked, ‘should we roll him on his side?’ and the defendant said, ‘No, staying put where we got him.’ Officer Lane said, ‘I am worried about excited delirium or whatever.’ The defendant said, ‘That’s why we have him on his stomach.’ None of the three officers moved from their positions.”

Body cam video showed Mr. Floyd stopped moving and appears to stop breathing and speaking. One officer says he wants to roll Mr. Floyd on his side and another officer tries and fails to find a pulse.

Mr. Chauvin is on Mr. Floyd’s neck the entire time. He keeps his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for almost three minutes after he is not moving. An ambulance and emergency medical personnel arrive, take Mr. Floyd away and he is later pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner, in a preliminary report, found “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease. The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.”

Experts say Mr. Floyd would not likely have died without the knee on his neck.

Mr. Chauvin is being represented by Tom Kelly, the lawyer who defended Jeronimo Yanez, the officer charged with manslaughter in the 2016 shooting death of Philando Castille during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb. Mr. Yanez was acquitted of all charges in 2017.

Many say the wave of anger that swept across the Twin Cities is due in large part to people fed up with police officers essentially getting away with murdering Black men and women. Minneapolis has a documented history of racial tension that dates back to at least the 1960s.

There are also recent racial events: The bombing of a Muslim mosque in 2017 by White Militia members. The 2015 shooting death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark by two Minneapolis police officers, both of whom were never charged with a crime by prosecutor Freeman. That sordid history has managed to be kept contained as the city has been lauded as one of the most liberal and progressive cities in America. The state of Minnesota was ranked second-worst in the United States behind Wisconsin when it comes to racial in-equality.

“Everyone has always thought that Minnesota was liberal. But there have been six Black rebellions here. How many cities have had that?” asked Mr. Moss. “Minnesota, since 1966, Black people have lost every case against the police, and we have never had a cop fired on our behalf until the murder of George Floyd.”

A study conducted by 24/7 Wall Street found Blacks in Minnesota are 10 times as likely to be put in jail or prison, compared to Whites. And the average White household has an income twice as high as their Black counterparts. White home ownership in the state is triple that of Black home ownership.

Longtime Black residents in Minneapolis say the uprisings in the wake of the Floyd death have been more than 50 years in the making.

“The frustration has really gotten to a point where it’s blatant. Everybody knows these [police officers] should’ve got arrested and held in protective custody on probable cause,” Charles Muhammad, who leads a Nation of Islam study group in Minneapolis, told The Final Call.

“In the history here, they have never charged a Caucasian [police officer] in any incident with [Black people]. Going back to 1960, no one has actually been charged here in the city for doing something to somebody Black,” he said.

Black anger is not limited in Minneapolis but has been expressed across the country as protests grow calling for justice for George Floyd.

Anthony Shahid was on the ground after Mike Brown, Jr., was shot and killed by Ferguson, Mo., officer Darren Wilson—who was cleared by the Justice Department of wrongdoing and never faced local charges. Black people, especially young Black men, are at the point where they are tired, fed up, and unwilling to lay down in the face of police injustice, said the longtime activist and advisor to Mike Brown, Sr., whose son was killed in 2014.

“These young brothers are not going to take it anymore. They don’t want to hear from any preachers, and they don’t want to hear from any politicians trying to tell them to be politically correct,” Mr. Shahid told The Final Call. “They know that these politicians and preachers will never be on the ground when things kick off because they’re sitting back and waiting to see how it’s going to go, first. And when they do show up, these young brothers know all they’re going to say is that everything is going to be Ok and let’s be peaceful. These young brothers don’t want to hear that anymore. They’re tired of hearing that.”

Darnella Frazier is a young woman who recorded a touching, viral video. The 17-year-old, in a video posted on YouTube, described the ordeal. She said she was traumatized by what she saw.

“They killed that man! And I was right there! I was like five feet away! It’s so traumatizing … I seen him die. And everybody’s asking me how do I feel? I don’t know how to feel. [Because], it’s so sad,” Ms. Frazier said.

The sharing of the Frazier video traumatized many who watched it as did videos of the Floyd death. It adds to the pain and frustration of seeing not only another Black life taken at the hands of a police officer, but a police officer who didn’t even care that a camera was recording him. That makes what happened even more horrifying, and troubling.

(Final Call staff contributed to this report.)