Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey has called for a murder charge to be brought against Derek Chauvin, a police officer seen on video kneeling on George Floyd’s neck until he died.
The Monday incident sent shock waves across America, stoking racial tensions and leading to protests in the city.
Floyd, an African-American, was handcuffed at the time of the kneeling incident, and surveillance video from a nearby shop showed he DID NOT resist arrest as stated in the police report.
Although the four officers on-site at the time of the incident have now been sacked, Mayor Frey called for criminal charges against Chauvin, who is white.
The footage recorded by a bystander shows Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck as Floyd gasps for breath on the ground with his face against the pavement. The officer does not move for at least eight minutes, even after Floyd stops speaking and moving.
Frey, who is white, said, “I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?”
He later added: “I saw no threat. I saw nothing that would signal that this kind of force was necessary.”
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