Fired Minneapolis Police Officer Charged With Murder in George Floyd’s Death

Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer seen in a viral video with his knee on George Floyd’s neck before he died, was taken into custody Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, made the announcement today during a news conference.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman also weighed in and said the development “is by far the fastest we’ve ever charged a police officer.”

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Video recorded by an onlooker showed Floyd, an African American man, pleading for his life Monday night, as police officer Chauvin, who is white, applied pressure to his neck with a knee. As minutes passed, Floyd stopped talking and moving.

The four officers involved were fired Tuesday after the bystander’s video taken outside a Minneapolis grocery store went viral.

The Minneapolis Police Department said the officers were responding to a forgery call at the grocery store. Police said Floyd matched the description of a suspect in the case.

The officers alleged Floyd “physically resisted” after he got out of his car, but surveillance video from a nearby Minneapolis restaurant contradicted the police account and showed Floyd appearing to comply with the officers’ demands.