Dat is inderdaad iets wat goed uitgezocht moet worden. Ook in een commentaar van het RD werd George Floyd als een soort heilige afgeschilderd, maar als ik de toedracht op Wikipedia lees, dan lijkt het erop dat hij verdacht werd van het inleveren van een vervalsde cheque, onder invloed van iets was, en zich in eerste instantie verzette tegen zijn arrestatie.
Aan de andere kant sluit dat racisme van de kant van de politieman niet uit, en is er wel al langer sprake van racisme bij de Amerikaanse politie.
Hoe dan ook, is het volstrekt verwerpelijk hoe de agent gehandeld heeft. Ten eerste moet er gerechtigheid voor George Floyd komen, en daarnaast moet de Amerikaanse politie het racisme binnen eigen gelederen keihard aanpakken. Aangezien dit een structureel probleem is, moet hier blijvende aandacht en een zero-tolerance beleid voor gevoerd worden.
Wikipedia schreef:On the evening of Monday, May 25, 2020, Floyd purchased a pack of cigarettes at Cup Foods, a store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, located in the south-central area of the city, 8.6 miles northwest from Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. A store employee believed Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 bill.[7][10][3][56] It is unclear whether the $20 bill, which is now in police possession, was counterfeit.[3] A Cup Foods employee said that she regarded it as an "obvious fake" because the "ink was still running."[3]
Just before 8:00 p.m., two Cup Foods employees left the store and crossed the street to an SUV parked in front of a restaurant. Floyd was in the driver's seat, and two adult passengers were in the vehicle.[7]:1:25[10]:1:33[56][57] The employees demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes, and he refused.[10]:1:43[56] The interaction was filmed by the restaurant's security camera.[7]:0:49[10]:1:24[58][a] At 8:01 p.m., a store employee called 9-1-1 to report that Floyd had passed "fake bills" and was "awfully drunk" and "not in control of himself."[7]:1:33[10]:1:51[56]
At 8:08 p.m., Lane and Kueng briefly entered Cup Foods,[7]:1:41[10]:2:00[56] then crossed the street to Floyd's SUV.[7]:1:49 Lane drew his gun and ordered Floyd to put his hands on the steering wheel; Floyd complied and Lane holstered his weapon.[10]:2:10[56] Someone parked behind Floyd's SUV began recording a video at 8:10 p.m.[7]:1:56[10]:2:28 Following a brief struggle, Lane pulled Floyd from the SUV, handcuffed him, and told him he was under arrest.[7]:2:10[10]:2:20[56]
Chauvin kneels on Floyd's neck
At 8:12 p.m., Kueng sat Floyd on the sidewalk against the wall in front of the restaurant.[7]:2:22[10]:2:33 At 8:13 p.m., an officer brought Floyd to his feet and walked him across the street to the sidewalk in front of Cup Foods.[7]:2:30 Floyd fell to the ground next to a police car parked at the curb; officers picked him up and placed him against the car's door.[7]:2:42[10]:3:00 According to prosecutors, Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic[10]:3:10[56] and couldn't breathe.[10]:3:23 A Minneapolis Park Police officer arrived and guarded Floyd's vehicle (across the street by the restaurant) and the two people who had been in it with Floyd;[7]:2:53[59] body cam footage[60] shows this officer assuring these two people that an ambulance is coming, and telling them to "stay put".[61]
At 8:17 p.m., a third police car arrived, with officers Derek Michael Chauvin and Tou Thao. They walked over to assist Lane and Kueng.[7]:3:32[10]:3:27[56] Around 8:18 p.m., security footage from Cup Foods shows Kueng struggling with Floyd for at least a minute in the driver's side backseat while Thao watches.[7]:3:54[10]:3:49 A criminal complaint filed against Chauvin alleges Floyd refused to enter the car, even after officers moved him from the driver's side to the passenger side.[7]:4:00[10]:3:15 At 8:19 p.m., standing on the passenger's side of the vehicle, Chauvin pulled Floyd across the backseat, from the driver's side to the passenger's side, and out of the car, causing Floyd to fall onto the ground, where, still handcuffed, he lay on the pavement.[10]:3:56[56] Floyd stopped moving around 8:20 p.m.[7]:4:10
Multiple witnesses began to film the encounter; their videos were circulated widely on the internet.[10]:4:06[56] At 8:20 p.m., a bystander at the Speedway gas station across the intersection began recording video on their phone showing Floyd face down on the pavement with Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, Kueng applying pressure to Floyd's torso, and Lane applying pressure to Floyd's legs, while Thao stood nearby.[7]:4:13[10]:4:11[56] Floyd can be heard repeatedly saying "I can't breathe", "please, please, please", and "please, man", and calling for his mother.[7]:4:44[10]:4:28[56] The bystander stopped filming when one of the officers ordered him to leave.[10]:4:35
Also at 8:20 p.m., a second person, standing near the entrance of Cup Foods, began recording the incident.[7]:4:26[10]:5:08[24] According to The New York Times, these two videos show Floyd telling officers he can't breathe at least 16 times in less than five minutes.[10]:5:46 At one point a bystander said, "You got him down. Let him breathe."[62] After Floyd said, "I'm about to die," Chauvin told him to "relax".[63] The police ask Floyd, "What do you want?"; Floyd answered, "I can't breathe."[64] Floyd states: "Please, the knee in my neck, I can't breathe."[63]
At approximately 8:22 p.m., the officers called for an ambulance, initially on a non-emergency basis; they later[when?] escalated the call to emergency status.[7]:4:50[10]:4:42 Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd's neck.[10]:5:15 A passerby yelled to Floyd, "Well, get up, get in the car, man," and Floyd, still handcuffed and face down on the pavement, responded, "I can't," while Chauvin's knee remained on his neck.[10]:5:26 Floyd cried out, "Mama!" twice.[65][64] Floyd said, "My stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts", requested water,[64] and begged, "Don't kill me."[66] One bystander points out that Floyd was bleeding from the nose.[67] Another told the officers that Floyd was "not even resisting arrest right now".[24] Thao countered that Floyd was "talking, he's fine", a bystander replied that Floyd "ain't fine".[67][68] The bystander protested, "Get him off the ground ... You could have put him in the car by now. He's not resisting arrest or nothing. You're enjoying it. Look at you. Your body language."[67] (Chauvin's hand appeared to be in his pocket, but in fact his gloved hand was resting on the leg of his trousers, which were similarly colored to his gloves.)[10]:6.06 As Floyd continued to cry for help, Thao said to bystanders, "This is why you don’t do drugs, kids."[69]
By 8:25 p.m., Floyd appeared unconscious, and bystanders confronted the officers about Floyd's condition, urging them to check his pulse.[7]:5:22[10]:6:53[56] Kueng checked Floyd's wrist but could not find a pulse; the officers did not move.[56] The officers did not attempt to provide Floyd with any medical treatment.[10]:6:46 According to the criminal complaint against Chauvin, Lane asked Chauvin twice if they should move Floyd onto his side, and Chauvin said no.[10]:7:02 A bystander asked, "Did they fucking kill him?"[36]
Medical response and death
At 8:27 p.m., a Hennepin County ambulance arrived.[7]:5:56[10]:7:11 Shortly thereafter, a young relative of the owner of Cup Foods attempted to intervene, but was pushed back by Thao.[7]:6:03 The emergency medical technicians (EMTs) checked Floyd's pulse.[10]:7:17 Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for almost a minute after the EMTs arrived, despite Floyd appearing unresponsive.[10]:7:21
Around 8:28 p.m., after being told to do so by EMTs, Chauvin lifted his knee off of Floyd's neck, having kept it there for eight minutes and forty-six seconds according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin.[7]:6:27[10]:7:28[56] Around 8:29 p.m. Floyd, still motionless, was loaded into the ambulance which departed for Hennepin County Medical Center.[7]:6:35[10]:7:43[56]
En route, the ambulance requested additional medical assistance from the Minneapolis Fire Department.[7]:6:35[10]:7:43[56] At 8:32 p.m., firefighters arrived at the Cup Foods store.[7]:6:56[10]:7:56 According to their report, the police officers gave no clear information regarding Floyd's condition or whereabouts, which delayed their ability to find and assist the ambulance.[10]:7:56[70] Meanwhile, the ambulance carrying Floyd reported that he was entering cardiac arrest and again requested fire department assistance, asking firefighters to meet them at the corner of 36th Street and Park Avenue. Five minutes later, the fire department reached the ambulance;[10]:8:10 two fire department medics who boarded the ambulance found Floyd unresponsive and pulseless.[7]:6:56
Floyd was pronounced dead at 9:25 p.m. at the Hennepin County Medical Center emergency room.[7]:7:12[10]:8:28[56][71]