ALSO SEE: ‘George Floyd Should Be Alive’: Deadly Minneapolis
Police Encounter Sparks Nationwide Calls for Justice

George Floyd's Death Sparks Large Protests, Confrontations With Police in Minneapolis

By Omar Jimenez and Christina Maxouris, CNN

27 May 20

 

bout 24 hours after George Floyd's death, hundreds of protesters packed the streets of Minneapolis, many gathering at the intersection where Floyd was pinned to the ground by police officers shortly before he died.

Floyd was arrested Monday evening after officers responded to a call about an alleged forgery in progress. Video from bystanders shows Floyd handcuffed and pinned to the ground and one police officer's knee pressing against his neck. Floyd pleaded he was in pain and couldn't breathe. Shortly after, he died at a nearby hospital.

Four police officers involved in the incident were fired Tuesday, Minneapolis police said.

Tuesday evening, protests started at the intersection where Floyd was arrested. Protesters later moved to one of the police precincts, CNN affiliate WCCO reported.

Some demonstrators chanted "No justice, no peace" -- as well as "I can't breathe," which were some of the last words Floyd uttered Monday in the bystander video.

Demonstrators and officers in riot gear faced each other as police sent tear gas canisters into crowds.

"We're here to let them know this can't be tolerated, there will be severe consequences if they continue to kill us. This will not go on another day," a protester told the affiliate.

Tear gas used after crowd turned unruly, police say

Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd after some protesters turned unruly, Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder told CNN.

Things have calmed down significantly but in the pouring rain a crowd continues to gather outside the Minneapolis Police Precinct as cars honk nonstop, some in support, some seemingly in frustration at not being able to get through. #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/7nDk1bG3p1

— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) May 27, 2020

Some demonstrators wheeled a shopping cart full of rocks just outside the precinct and dumped the rocks on the ground for people to throw, a CNN team there reported. A police cruiser's back window was shattered when someone threw something at it.

Police outside Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct fired what appeared to CNN's team on the scene to be non-lethal projectiles at demonstrators.

Officers fired "foam marking rounds," but no rubber bullets, after some protesters became unruly, Elder said.

Those rounds are meant to mark individuals that officers believe may be instigating violence for later investigation, Elder said.

Family: Officers should be charged with murder

No charges in the case have been filed. Members of Floyd's family say they want four officers at the scene charged with murder.

"They were supposed to be there to serve and to protect and I didn't see a single one of them lift a finger to do anything to help while he was begging for his life. Not one of them tried to do anything to help him," Tera Brown, Floyd's cousin, told CNN's Don Lemon on Tuesday.

Brown and Floyd's two brothers held up his picture during Tuesday's interview and spoke of a man who "didn't hurt anybody" and who they described as a "gentle giant."

"Knowing my brother is to love my brother," Philonise Floyd said. "They could have tased him; they could have maced him. Instead, they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and then carried on."

"They treated him worse than they treat animals," he said.

"They need to be charged with murder because what they did was murder," Brown said. "And almost the whole world has witnessed that because somebody was gracious enough to record it."

"They need to pay for what they did," she said.

'I can't breathe'

Minneapolis police said officers were responding to a report of a forgery Monday evening and were told a person later described as the suspect was sitting on a car.

They found Floyd, who at that point was inside a car and police said he "physically resisted" after he got out of the vehicle. Officers handcuffed Floyd, who police said "appeared to be suffering medical distress."

Video captured by bystanders shows an officer with his knee pressed against the neck of the 46-year-old, who was handcuffed on the pavement. Two officers handled the man on the ground while another stood nearby with his eyes on the bystanders as traffic passed.

"Please, I can't breathe," Floyd says. "... My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts."

At one point the man said, "Give me some water or something. Please. Please."

Floyd screamed for several minutes before he became silent. Bystanders urged the officer to release the man from his hold. He died at a hospital shortly after, police said.

Surveillance video obtained from a nearby restaurant showed the first point of contact police had with the man. An officer escorts Floyd handcuffed out of a car and Floyd sits on the sidewalk. Moments later, the officer and another escort Floyd away, still with his hands behind his back.

A finding on Floyd's cause and manner of death remains pending and it is being investigated by local, state and federal law enforcement, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said in a statement.

Mayor: 'Being black in America' should not be 'a death sentence'

Referencing the moments when Floyd was on the ground, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday the officer had no reason to employ the hold on his neck.

"The technique that was used is not permitted; is not a technique that our officers get trained in on," he said in a town hall streamed on Facebook. "And our chief has been very clear on that piece. There is no reason to apply that kind of pressure with a knee to someone's neck."

Frey said he "100%" supported the police department's decision to fire the four officers. He offered his condolences to Floyd's family, adding that what the video shows was "utterly messed up."

"For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man," Frey said in a news conference.

"When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense."

"Being black in America," he added, should not be "a death sentence."

The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis said in a statement the officers were cooperating in an investigation and urged "now is not the time to rush to (judgment)" while the officers' actions are examined.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into Floyd's death, which will focus on whether the Minneapolis Police Department officers involved "willfully deprived (Floyd) of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States," according to a statement from the FBI Minneapolis Division.

The FBI said it will present its findings to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota for consideration of possible federal charges.