Episode 1127
Killing of George Floyd
Wed, 2020-Jun-03 09:53 UTC
Length - 4:19
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 800,912 views on Tuesday, 2 June 2020 our article of the day is Killing of George Floyd.
On May 25, 2020, George Perry Floyd, a black man, was killed in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. During an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white American police officer, kept his knee on the side of Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down. During the last three minutes, Floyd was motionless. Officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas K. Lane participated in Floyd's arrest, with Kueng holding Floyd's back, Lane holding his legs, and Thao looking on and forcibly preventing intervention by an onlooker.:6:24The arrest was made after Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a market. Police said Floyd physically resisted arrest. Some media organizations commented that a security camera from a nearby business did not show Floyd resisting. The criminal complaint filed later said that based on body camera footage, Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe while standing outside the police car, resisted getting in the car and intentionally fell down; then, after Chauvin placed his knee, Floyd said "I can't breathe" multiple times and repeatedly said, "Mama" and "please". Several bystanders took videos, all of which were widely circulated and broadcast. While knee-to-neck restraints are allowed in Minnesota under certain circumstances, Chauvin's usage of the technique has been widely criticized by law enforcement experts as excessive. At two points, Lane asked to "roll him on his side". All four officers were fired the next day. The two autopsies conducted of Floyd concluded that he died by homicide. The Hennepin County medical examiner's autopsy found that Floyd died from cardiac arrest while being restrained by officers who had employed "neck compression", also noting "arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease; fentanyl intoxication; and recent methamphetamine use". An independent autopsy commissioned by Floyd's family 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. The FBI is conducting a federal civil rights investigation at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is also investigating. On May 29, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for Floyd's death, with Hennepin County attorney Michael O. Freeman saying he anticipated that charges would be brought against the other three officers. After Floyd's death, demonstrations and protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area were initially peaceful on May 26. Later that day the protests became violent as a police precinct and two stores were set on fire, and many stores were looted and damaged. Some demonstrators skirmished with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Additional protests developed in over 400 cities throughout all 50 states in the United States as well as internationally. Floyd's death has been compared to the 2014 death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who repeated "I can't breathe" eleven times while being placed in a chokehold by a police officer in Staten Island, New York.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 09:53 UTC on Wednesday, 3 June 2020.
For the full current version of the article, see Killing of George Floyd on Wikipedia.
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