GEORGE Floyd’s family have said that he was “clearly murdered” and think that the police “deserve life” for his death after a white cop knelt on his neck.
The 46-year-old died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after being arrested for allegedly trying to use forged documents at a local deli.
Floyd’s family spoke to CNN on Tuesday night[/caption]
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday evening, George’s brother, Philonise, said: “They took a life, they deserve life.”
“They could have tased him, maced him,” he said. “Instead, they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and didn’t care at all.”
“They’re at home and sleeping with their wives, they have kids.
“If something like that happened to them, they would be just like me.”
Floyd’s cousin, Tera Brown, said that police need to “pay for what they did.”
“We want to see them charged with murder and we want them to be convicted,” she said. “They need to pay for what they did.”
Tera Brown said: ‘They need to pay for what they did’[/caption]
On Tuesday evening, new footage showed George Floyd looking calm in handcuffs moments before his death.
The moments immediately before his death were captured on camera by a passer-by, showing Floyd lying on the ground with at least one officer on his back.
Harrowing footage shows the cop kneeling on his neck as the handcuffed man begs him to stop and tells him he “can’t breathe”.
A viral video showed a police officer pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck[/caption]
Witnesses can also be heard urging police to get off him before Floyd loses consciousness and later died.
The full results of the autopsy are still pending.
‘RESISTING ARREST’
Police said they were forced to restrain Floyd after he resisted arrest.
But newly emerged footage appears to show him calm and compliant has he is led to the sidewalk by officers.
The CCTV clip shows him already in cuffs as he seemingly obeys commands to sit down on the ground.
Police said in an earlier statement that Floyd “physically resisted officers” after getting out of his car.
Minneapolis Police Department said: “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.
“Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”
Distraught family members described Floyd as a family man and ‘jokester’[/caption]
Tera Brown and Shareeduh Tate told how they saw footage of their ‘baby cousin’s arrest[/caption]
Floyd’s devastated family yesterday revealed they watched disturbing footage of the arrest in which he died on TV before realizing it was their “baby cousin”.
Shareeduh Tate and Tera Brown yesterday described the horrific moment they learned of their cousin’s death in Minnesota, before the family’s attorney called for the cops involved to face murder charges.
Tate told TMX.news: “I actually saw it before knowing it was my cousin – I saw it on Gayle King.
“And I remember thinking how devastating this would be for the family who have lost their family member like this.
“Then about five minutes after that I got a phone call saying that it was my cousin.”
COPS FIRED
Floyd’s death sparked violent demonstrations in Minneapolis, with cops and protesters clashing in the streets yesterday.
Four police officers were fired hours after the disturbing viral video emerged.
Brown said she had watched the horrific clip on Tuesday morning.
She said: “It is unbelievable to see someone suffer in the way he did, and to see so many people around, basically asking for him to live.”
The pair described Floyd as “the cousin that everybody loved” and a “jokester” father who “was very talented in his many ways.”
Protesters and police officers in Minneapolis clashed over Floyd’s death on Tuesday night[/caption]
Some protesters trashed cop cars in a heated demonstration[/caption]
A protester is doused with milk after being exposed to tear gas during the demonstrations[/caption]
A group of men vandalize a police car during the heated clash[/caption]
Minneapolis Police Chief Rondo Arredondo made the announcement Tuesday that the cops are now “former employees” after Floyd’s Monday night death, WCCO reported.
But the relatives are calling for authorities to go further.
Family attorney Ben Crump told TMZ the cops involved should face murder charges over the “horrific killing”.
“It’s like it’s open season on black people in America,” he said before referencing the recent murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
He said: “It was clear that he was begged by public bystanders to take his knee off George’s neck.”
Crump added: “They were supposed to protect and serve citizens like George.
“We in black America, we are done dying at the hands of the people that are supposed to protect and serve us.”
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The attorney compared the similarities of Floyd’s death to Eric Garner, whose family he also represented after Garner died in similar fashion in 2014.
Cops in New York City placed Garner in a chokehold as he pleaded for his life while shouting: “I can’t breathe!”.
Parallels have already been drawn between the deaths of the two black men, but Crump said Floyd’s is “worse” because he was held down for eight minutes.
Floyd’s family remembers him as ‘the cousin everybody loved’[/caption]
Ben Crump, the attorney for Floyd’s family, has demanded that cops face murder charges[/caption]
Crump drew parallels from Floyd’s death to that of Eric Garner, who died similarly in New York City in 2014[/caption]
The Floyd family attorney said Tuesday his death is a sign that it’s ‘open season on black people’[/caption]
Several people within the Minneapolis community have called for justice[/caption]
Several comparisons have been made between the deaths of Floyd and the 2014 death of Eric Garner[/caption]
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