(AllHipHop News) Echoes of Eric Garner could be heard in Minneapolis over the weekend, when the local city police basically crushed a Black man to near death as he cried out, “I can’t breathe.”
The Minneapolis Police Department contends in a statement that they were called to handle a situation where a suspect, George Floyd, was committing a “forgery.”
Upon arrival, the authorities insist that the man was not complying and resisting arrest.
“He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers,” the statement read. “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.”
But that is not what the video shows.
In the video, you see that one white cop, in particular, is exercising extreme force on an unarmed Black man, while an Asian officer stands to watch.
Unlike the Garner murder, this cop does not use an arm-intensive chokehold but locks in with his kneed almost crushing his esophagus.
Witnesses stand by as this man’s life is seeping from his body, asking authorities to stop hurting him. Their voices are nowhere near as heart-wrenching as the man – who loses consciousness somewhere after the five-minute mark on the video.
You can hear Floyd whimper while on the ground for his mother and some water. He says to the police, “My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts … (I need) water or something.”
“… Please. Please. I can’t breathe, officer. I cannot breathe. I cannot breathe.”
Empathetic voices double up as they yell at the white officer and try to ration with the Asian officer, called “Tao.”
“How long are you going to keep your knee on his neck?”
“He’s a bum, Bro … could have put him in the car by now. He’s not resisting arrest or nothing. You’re enjoying it. Look at you. Your body language — you bum. You know that’s bogus right now.”
One white woman, who identifies herself as an essential worker, questions if they checked for a pulse. She was ignored, even as his eyes are no longer open, he is no longer crying and his nose is bloodied presumably from the pressure.
Eventually, an ambulance did come and take his pulse. He was concerned. Shockingly, the aggressive officer did not move off of the man’s neck but pressed his knee down more. MERCY.
By the end of the video you can hear a man says, “You just really killed that man, Bro.”
Darnella Frazier posted the video to Facebook with the caption, “They killed him right in front of cup foods over south on 38th and Chicago!! No type of sympathy #POLICEBRUTALITY”
MPD has revealed that the officers had body cameras on during the incident. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI has been contacted to investigate.
Gayle King was visibly upset by this and cried out on her morning CBS talk show, “its open season” on Black men.
— GREG SMITH (@glsmith04) May 26, 2020
Gayle King has had enough… pic.twitter.com/JA4f2nQCkD
— GREG SMITH (@glsmith04) May 26, 2020