Police Killing of George Floyd (May, 2020)

At this location next to a small grocery store on the evening of May 25, 2020, four Minneapolis police officers arrested a 46-year-old Black man named George Floyd after a possible $20 counterfeit bill was reported at the store. After Floyd was handcuffed and laid out on the ground, Derek Chauvin, one of the four officers, knelt on his neck for about 9 minutes and 30 seconds- despite Floyd repeatedly pleading that he couldn't breathe. George Floyd was later pronounced dead at the scene. Footage of this incident, captured by a bystander, sparked international outrage regarding racial profiling and police brutality. Between 15 to 26 million people in the United States alone took part in Black Lives Matter protests over the summer of 2020, making it one of the largest social movements in history. Chauvin was later arrested and found guilty of third-degree murder and sentenced to serve 22.5 years in prison.

At around 8:00 PM on May 25, 2020, the Minneapolis Police Department received a call from Cup Foods- a small grocery store near downtown- regarding a possible $20 counterfeit bill a customer had used to pay for cigarettes. Several minutes later, Officers J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane arrived and were directed by Cup Foods employees to George Floyd, sitting in his car. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who worked nearby and frequented Cup Foods, was intoxicated at the time and became confused when officers approached him.

Floyd was ordered to step out of his SUV by Officer Lane and was subsequently handcuffed. Eyewitness descriptions and video footage shows Floyd inebriated, but compliant with Officer Lane. At 8:10, bystanders began recording the interaction. Three minutes later, the officers informed George Floyd that he was under arrest for alleged forgery and began trying to put him into the back of their police cruiser. Panicked, Floyd fell to the ground and begged them not to put him in, stating that he suffered from claustrophobia. After being put in the cruiser, Floyd thrashed around and hit his face several times on the car frame, causing his mouth and nose to bleed.

At 8:17, Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao arrived on the scene. Officer Chauvin, who had worked at the Minneapolis Police Department for 19 years, quickly stepped in as the superior officer in the situation. He pulled Floyd from the car and laid him face-down on the pavement, still handcuffed. Starting at about 8:20 PM, Derek Chauvin began kneeling on George Floyd’s neck despite receiving no resistance from Floyd at the time. Officers Keung and Lane assisted Chauvin by holding down Floyd’s torso and legs. Several individuals nearby began recording the scene from different vantage points. In all of the videos, Floyd can be heard repeatedly saying “Please”, “Mama”, and “I can’t breathe.” Over the course of several minutes, Floyd stated that he couldn’t breathe 16 times, begged Officer Chauvin to stop kneeling on his neck, and said that he was dying. Bystanders, including a Cup Foods employee, also began yelling at the officers that Floyd was having trouble breathing and was bleeding from the mouth and nose.

Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for a total of 9 minutes and 30 seconds (longer than the previously reported 8 minutes and 46 seconds), during which he and the other officers told Floyd and bystanders to “relax”. A later criminal complaint alleged that Officer Lane asked Chauvin twice if Floyd should moved to his side to allow him to breathe, and both times Chauvin refused. According to footage, George Floyd fell unconscious at roughly 8:25 PM. At the urging of the people nearby, Officer Keung checked for Floyd’s pulse and found nothing. Despite this, Officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee in place and no medical assistance was given. Chauvin only removed his knee a full minute after the ambulance arrived at 8:27 PM. By this time, Floyd had no pulse and was completely unresponsive. He entered cardiac arrest while on the ambulance and was later pronounced dead in Hennepin County Medical Center at 9:25 PM.

On the morning of May 26th, Minneapolis Police Department released a statement on George Floyd’s death with no mention of Officer Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Within hours, video of the incident was released online, prompting near-universal outrage. All four officers involved were immediately placed on administrative leave, and then fired by the end of the day. A makeshift memorial to George Floyd was set up outside of Cup Foods by that evening. That night, thousands marched in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area protesting police brutality and institutionalized racism. Most protests were associated with the Black Lives Matter movement- which began in the wake of 17-year-old Travyon Martin’s murder in 2012. Calls for criminal charges against all four of the officers were answered several days later when, on May 29th, Derek Chauvin was arrested on the charges of third-degree murder and second degree manslaughter. On June 1st, Floyd’s death was confirmed to be a homicide following an independent autopsy. Two days later, the three other officers involved were arrested for aiding and abetting murder.

Spread of the videos on social media and through news outlets gave rise to both largescale peaceful protest and mass unrest in over 2,000 cities across the country and the world. By the end of July 2020, between 15 and 26 million Americans had taken part in a Black Lives Matter demonstration, making it possibly the largest social movement in the history of the United States. Following memorial services in Minneapolis, his birthplace of North Carolina, and Houston, George Floyd’s body was transported to Pearland, Texas and buried there next to his mother. 

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