The MURDER trial of former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin, who was involved in George Floyd’s death, concluded on April 20.
George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis He saw global protests against racism and police brutality towards the black community.
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Did George Floyd have a criminal record?
Floyd, 46, was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and grew up in Houston, Texas.
A father of two girls and a son, the six-foot-seven “gentle giant” had been a star soccer and basketball player in high school.
The Houston Chronicle reported that 13 years ago, Floyd was charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, citing Harris County court records.
He moved from his hometown to embark on a fresh start in Minneapolis, where he worked as a truck driver and janitor, family and friends said.
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Why was he imprisoned?
In 2009, Floyd served a five-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal to the 2007 count of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, the Houston Chronicle reports.
One of his Houston friends, Ronnie Lillard, told the BBC who became involved in his local ministry, Resurrection Houston, after being released from jail.
Determined to change himself and help improve his neighborhood, “Big Floyd,” as he was known, “embraced his own change of life. [and] he was looking at his community, “added Lillard.
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Floyd’s ex, Roxie Washington, told reporters: “People confuse him because he was so big that they thought he was always a fighting person, but he was a caring person.”
Washington, the mother of one of his three children, said her six-year-old daughter, Gianna, was “proof that he was a good man.”
She said, “I still have a picture of him waking up and having his baby.”
What did the president of the Minneapolis Police Union say about George Floyd?
The head of the Minneapolis Police Union, Lt. Bob Kroll, ranted in a letter to the police that they were being made “scapegoats” during the ongoing “terror movement” protests against Floyd’s brutal death.
He said: “What is not told is the violent criminal story of George Floyd. The media will not broadcast this.”
Without referring to the way Floyd was immobilized until he was unconscious, Kroll complained about the response from Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other leaders.
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Calling them “despicable,” he complained that officials had refused to “acknowledge the work of the MPD,” reports the Tribune of the stars.
Kroll said: “I congratulate you on the excellent police work you are doing to keep your co-workers and others safe during what everyone except us refuses to call a riot.
“You’ve turned the tide of the largest-scale riot Minneapolis has ever seen.”
Yet the Minneapolis Police Department has faced decades of allegations of brutality and other discrimination against African Americans and other minorities, including within the department itself.
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Critics say its culture resists change.
The state of Minnesota has launched a civil rights investigation of the force in hopes of forcing widespread change following Floyd’s death.
The FBI is also investigating whether the police deliberately deprived Floyd of his civil rights.
Governor Walz and Minnesota Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said they want to find ways to address the department’s history of racial profiling.
The governor said he knew that “there are deep-seated problems.
“And the reason I know is that we saw the casual nature of the erasure of George Floyd’s life and humanity.”
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Why were you detained by the Minneapolis police on May 25?
On May 25, “someone called 911 and reported that a man purchased Cup Foods merchandise … in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, with a counterfeit $ 20 bill,” prosecutors say.
Their court report explains that once at the scene, Officers Thomas Lane and JA Kueng were told that the client was sitting in a nearby car.
Floyd was in the vehicle with another man and a woman.
A police officer “drew his gun and pointed it at Floyd’s open window and motioned for Floyd to show his hands.”
After ordering him out of the car, the officer “pulled him out of the car” and Floyd “actively resisted” being handcuffed.
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Once restrained, however, Floyd was “compliant.”
Asked if he was “on to something,” the officer explained that he was arresting him for “passing counterfeit currency,” the report added.
But on the way to the police car, Floyd panicked and said he suffered from “claustrophobia.”
Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thoa later arrived in a separate patrol.
“While out of the car, Mr. Floyd started saying and repeating that he couldn’t breathe,” prosecutors say.
He was thrown on the ground, “face down and still handcuffed.”
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Two officers restrained Floyd’s back and legs.
Next, Chauvin “placed his left knee in Mr. Floyd’s head and neck area.
“Mr. Floyd said, ‘I can’t breathe’ several times and repeatedly said, ‘Mom’ and ‘please.’
The report says that after officers “checked Mr. Floyd’s right wrist for a pulse and couldn’t find one,” they pinned him to the ground for two more minutes, until paramedics arrived.
He was pronounced dead that same night at the Hennepin County Medical Center.
What happened on the first anniversary of Floyd’s death?
On Tuesday May 25, protesters were seen gathering in George Floyd Square at the first anniversary of the 46-year-old man’s death when they allegedly shot themselves.
Police said officers responded to the scene at approximately 10:09 a.m. local time to reports of the sound of gunfire.
Callers also said a vehicle was seen leaving the area at high speed.
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People seemed to disperse from the square, to the Associated Press reporter saying that many were taking refuge in the place.
The reporter said he heard “a few dozen sounds of what appear to have been gunshots” in the block where the block is.
He added that organizers at the scene asked “Does anyone need a doctor? It seems there are no injuries.”
In a media report, ABC’s Alex Presha was speaking in front of the camera when multiple gunshots could be heard in the background.
He could then be heard yelling “DOWN” several times, before the image was reduced to the office anchor.
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After the shooting, Presha tweeted: “We are fine. It is definitely a sad way to start a day that is so important to so many people.”
It is not yet clear how many people were in the area when the alleged shooting occurred and if anyone was injured.
Authorities reported that someone showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound, however it is not immediately clear if that person was injured by this incident.
Ex officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and murder in the second degree on Floyd’s death. He was found guilty of all charges by juries on April 20.
The Three other officers complicit in Floyd’s death: J Alexander Keung, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane – will be tried later this year, charged with complicity in murder and manslaughter.