Dhe family of the killed black George Floyd has sued the police officers accused of the case and the American city of Minneapolis. In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, relatives accused the four men of violating Floyd’s fundamental rights when they brutally detained him when he was arrested in late May. The city of Minneapolis, where the fatal operation took place, accused them of allowing their police to adopt a culture of excessive violence, racism and impunity for those responsible.
One of the four officers pushed his knee down his neck for almost nine minutes and did not stop when the man on the ground said several times that he could not breathe. He has already been charged with killing Floyd and the three other police officers involved for aiding him.
“This lawsuit shows what we’ve always said: that Mr. Floyd died because the weight of all the Minneapolis police was on his neck,” said lawyer Ben Crump. The aim is to create a precedent that also prohibits police officers from being financially prohibited from illegally killing marginalized groups.
Scenes shortly before Floyd’s death
Meanwhile, unpublished video footage taken by police officers around the body cameras gives further insight into the last minutes of Geroge Floyd’s life. As the television station “CNN” reports, it can be seen that Floyd’s last words were “I cannot breathe”. That sentence had in that published transcript last week of events missing.
According to the broadcaster, the two videos begin with officials Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng going to a police operation because of a fake dollar bill. Afterwards it can be seen that the police officers are standing at the door of the car in which George Floyd is sitting. After a first knock on the car with a flashlight, one of the officers shouts: “Put your damn hands up right now!” Floyd sobs in fear and shortly after lays his head on the steering wheel of the car.
About three minutes after the video started, Floyd is violently pulled out of the car while officials try to handcuff him. Then there is a scramble when trying to put Floyd in the patrol car. One of the two officers tries to push Floyd into the car while the second officer walks around the car and pulls Floyd from the other side. He pulls it through the car.
Shortly afterwards, two other police officers appear – including Derek Chauvin, under whose knee George Floyd died – and help fix Floyd. Eleven minutes and 23 seconds after the video starts, you can see Chauvin starting to press Floyd’s neck with his knee. At this point, Floyd was already handcuffed. Floyd then said several times that he could not breathe. This is also shown by previously published cell phone recordings of the event. Sixteen minutes after the recording started, Floyd’s last words can be heard: “Man, I can’t breathe”.
Floyd’s death had sparked protests and unrest across the United States. Minneapolis is considering disbanding the police force and replacing it with a new agency.
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