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GEORGE FLOYD

George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man killed during an arrest after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis.

The Following detail is about who this man was and via Wikapedia.

George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man killed during an arrest after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. A white police officer named Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for a period initially reported to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds.[discuss][note 1][4][8] After his death, protests against police brutality towards black people quickly spread across the United States and internationally.

Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Floyd grew up in Houston, Texas playing football and basketball throughout high school and college. He was a hip hop artist and served as a mentor in his religious community. Between 1997 and 2005, he was convicted of eight crimes. He served four years in prison after accepting a plea bargain for a 2007 aggravated robbery in a home invasion.[9] In 2014, he moved to the Minneapolis area, residing in the nearby suburb of St. Louis Park, and worked as a truck driver and bouncer. In 2020, he lost his security job during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early life and education

Floyd was born on October 14, 1973 in Fayetteville, North Carolina to George Perry and Larcenia "Cissy" Jones Floyd.[10][11] He had four siblings.[12][13][14]

Floyd's parents separated and, when he was two, his mother moved with the children to the Cuney Homes public housing,[15][16][17] known as Bricks, in Houston's Third Ward, a historic black neighborhood and one of the poorest areas of the city.[10][11][15] Floyd was called Perry as a child, but also Big Floyd; being over six feet tall in middle school, he saw sports as a vehicle for improving his life.[15]

Floyd graduated from Yates High School in 1993. While there, he was co-captain of the basketball team playing as a power forward. He was also on the football team as a tight end, and in 1992, his team went to the Texas state championships.[10][15][16][13]

The first of his siblings to go to college, Floyd attended South Florida Community College for two years on a football scholarship, and also played on the basketball team.[15][18][19] He transferred to Texas A&M University–Kingsville in 1995, where he also played basketball before dropping out.[20] Friends and family characterized him as a "gentle giant";[21][22] he was 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighed 223 pounds (101 kg).[23]

Later life

Floyd returned to Houston from college in Kingsville, Texas in 1995 and became an automotive customizer and played club basketball.[20][24] Beginning in 1994, he performed as a rapper using the stage name Big Floyd in the hip hop group Screwed Up Click.[25][26][27][28] The New York Times described his deep-voiced rhymes as "purposeful", delivered in a slow-motion clip about "'choppin' blades' – driving cars with oversize rims – and his Third Ward pride".[15]

Between 1997 and 2005, Floyd served eight prison terms on various charges, including drug possession, theft, and trespass.[9][15][13][note 2] In 2009, he was sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery in a home invasion[29][30] and was paroled in January 2013.[20]

After Floyd's release, he became more involved with Resurrection Houston, a Christian church and ministry, where he mentored young men.[10][15][31] He helped his mother recuperate after a stroke. He delivered meals and assisted on other projects with Angel By Nature Foundation, a charity founded by rapper Trae tha Truth.[32] Later he became involved with a ministry that brought men from the Third Ward to Minnesota in a church-work program with drug rehabilitation and job placement services.[15]

In 2014, Floyd moved to Minneapolis to help rebuild his life and find work.[33][34] He was a truck driver and a bouncer, and lived in St. Louis Park.[11][20][35] In 2017, he filmed an anti-gun violence video.[10][22] From 2017 to 2018, he was a security guard for a Salvation Army facility.[36] In 2019, George Floyd worked security at the El Nuevo Rodeo club, where police officer Derek Chauvin also worked off-duty as a security guard.[37] In 2020, Floyd lost his security job at a bar and restaurant affected by the COVID-19 pandemic rules,[38] and in April of that year contracted COVID-19 himself, but recovered a few weeks later.[15][12]

Floyd had five children, including two daughters (aged 6 and 22 at the time of his death) and an adult son.[39][40][41][42] He also had two grandchildren.[12] A GoFundMe account to support Floyd's funeral costs and benefit his family broke the site's record for number of individual donations.[43]

Death Refer to Main article: Killing of George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, Floyd was arrested after allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a grocery store in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.[44] He died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for over eight minutes[note 1] during the arrest. Floyd was handcuffed face down in the street,[45][46][47] while two other officers further restrained Floyd and a fourth prevented onlookers from intervening.[48]:6:24[49][50] During the final two minutes,[51] Floyd was motionless and had no pulse.[52][53] Though the officers called for medical assistance, they took no action to treat him.[54]:6:46 Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck as emergency medical technicians arrived.[54]:7:21

The official autopsy report classified Floyd's death as a homicide attributed to cardiopulmonary arrest caused by subdual and restraint. Fentanyl intoxication and methamphetamine use were listed as "significant conditions".[discuss][23][55][56][57] A second autopsy, commissioned by Floyd's family and performed by Michael Baden, without access to various tissue and fluid samples, found that the "evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause" of death, with neck compression restricting blood flow to the brain, and back compression restricting breathing.[44]

After Floyd's death, protests were held globally against the use of excessive force by police officers against black suspects and lack of police accountability. Protests began in Minneapolis the day after his death and developed in cities throughout all 50 U.S. states and internationally.[58][59]

Killing of George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill.[2] Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for several minutes[a] while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down, begging for his life and repeatedly saying "I can't breathe".[8][9] Officers J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane further restrained Floyd, while officer Tou Thao prevented bystanders from intervening.[10][11]:6:24 During the final two minutes,[12] Floyd was motionless and had no pulse[13][14] while Chauvin ignored onlookers' pleas to remove his knee, which he did not do until medics told him to.[15]:7:30

The following day, after videos made by witnesses and security cameras became public,[16][17][18] all four officers were fired. Two autopsies found Floyd's death to be a homicide.[19] Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter,[20][21] to which was later added second-degree murder. The three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.[8][22][14]

Floyd's death triggered subsequent protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability.[23] In early June, the Minneapolis City Council voted an intent to restructure the police department as a "new community-based system of public safety".[24][25] The Minneapolis Police Chief cancelled contract negotiations with the police union and announced plans to bring in outside experts to examine how the union contract can be restructured to provide transparency and "flexibility for true reform".[26]

Arrest and death / Initial events

Corner store near site of Floyd's death with crowd of protesters

The intersection of Chicago Avenue and E. 38th Street on May 30. Floyd was killed just left of the awning.

On the evening of Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, Floyd purchased cigarettes at Cup Foods, a grocery store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. A store employee believed Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 bill.[11][15]

Just before 8:00 pm, 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 other adults were in the vehicle.[11]:1:25[15]:1:33[47] The employees demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes, and he refused.[15]:1:43[2] The interaction was filmed by the restaurant's security camera.[11]:0:49[15]:1:24[48][b] At 8:01, a store employee called police to report that Floyd had passed "fake bills" and was "awfully drunk" and "not in control of himself".[11]:1:33[15]:1:51[c]

External video

Police bodycam footage beginning approximately 8:09 p.m. on YouTube (8 min 38 s)

At 8:08, Kueng and Lane arrived, briefly entering Cup Foods before crossing the street to Floyd's SUV.[11]:1:41[15]:2:00 Lane taps his flashlight on the window, startling Floyd.[50][51] He asks Floyd to show his hands, and taps again when he does not abide. Floyd apologizes as he opens the car door. Lane instructs him three more times to show his hands. Six seconds after the door opened, he drew his gun and ordered Floyd to show his hands.[50] When Floyd complied, Lane holstered his weapon.[2][52] Someone parked behind Floyd's SUV began recording a video at 8:10.[11]:1:56[15]:2:28 Following a brief struggle,[11]:2:10 Lane pulled Floyd from the SUV and handcuffed him.[15]:2:20 At 8:12, Kueng sat Floyd on the sidewalk against the wall in front of the restaurant.[11]:2:22[15]:2:33 Lane asked Floyd if he is "on something right now", and Floyd replied "No, nothing". Kueng told Floyd he was acting "real erratic" and Floyd said that he was scared. Kueng asked Floyd about foam around his mouth, to which Floyd responded that he had been "hooping"[d] earlier.[53][55][54] According to criminal complaints filed against the officers by state prosecutors, Floyd was "calm" and said "thank you".[8][9]

At 8:13,[11]:2:30 Kueng and Lane told Floyd he was under arrest and walked him to their police car across the street.[9] Floyd fell to the ground next to the car; the officers picked him up and placed him against the car's door.[11]:2:42[15]:3:00 According to prosecutors, Floyd told the officers that he was not resisting, but that he was recovering from COVID-19, that he was claustrophobic and suffered from anxiety, and that he did not want to sit in the car.[8][9][15]:3:10[56] While Kueng and Lane attempted to put him in the car, Floyd begged them not to, repeatedly saying "I can't breathe" and offering to lie on the ground instead.[9][56][57] During his interview with crime investigators, Lane said that he first saw Floyd bleeding from the mouth at that moment, which he attributed to his "thrashing back and forth, in the car and hitting his face on the glass that goes to the front seat.[58] 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.[11]:2:53[59]

At 8:17, Chauvin and Thao arrived in a third police car joining Kueng and Lane[11]:3:32[15]:3:27 with Chauvin assuming command.[8] He asked if Floyd was going to jail, and Kueng replied that he was arrested for forgery.[53] Floyd said "I can't fucking breathe" twice.[55] Around 8:18, security footage from Cup Foods shows Kueng struggling with Floyd for at least a minute in the driver side backseat while Thao watches.[11]:3:54[15]:3:49 According to The New York Times, at 8:19, Chauvin pulled Floyd across the backseat from the driver side to the passenger side.[15]:3:56 Then, according to NPR, Floyd exits the vehicle, but it's unclear whether he's pulled out or pushes himself out.[60] Floyd, still handcuffed, falls to the pavement.[2]

For more information refer to Wikapedia for more detail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_George_Floyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd#:~:text=5-,George%20Perry%20Floyd%20Jr.,8%20minutes%20and%2046%20seconds.