The relatives of George Floyd, the African American man who died after a Minneapolis police officer held him down with a knee on his neck, say they want the officers involved brought up on murder charges.
Floyd’s two brothers and his cousin sat down with CNN’s Don Lemon Tuesday night to discuss the case.
“Knowing my brother is to love my brother,” Philonise Floyd said on CNN Tonight. “They could have tased him. They could have maced him. Instead, they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and then carried on.”
“They treated him worse than they treat animals,” Philonise added.
"They had him on the ground for over 10 minutes, with a knee in his neck. The man could not breathe. They didn't care."
– Philonise Floyd on the death of his brother, George Floyd, who said he couldn’t breathe as a police officer used a knee to hold him down by the neck. pic.twitter.com/Xng377Lc68
— Don Lemon Tonight (@DonLemonTonight) May 27, 2020
The four officers involved were fired Tuesday, soon after a bystander’s video taken outside a Minneapolis grocery store on Monday evening went viral. The footage showed George Floyd, 46, handcuffed on the pavement, with an officer kneeling on his neck. “I can’t breathe. Please, man,” Floyd said. Bystanders also pleaded with the officer to stop.
Floyd’s family is demanding justice.
“They need to be charged with murder because what they did was murder,” Floyd’s cousin Tera Brown said in the CNN interview. “And almost the whole world has witnessed that because somebody was gracious enough to record it.”
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the family, also wants the officers charged.
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The Minneapolis Police Department said the officers were responding to a forgery call at a 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.
The video starts with Floyd on the pavement and an officer is kneeling on his neck. FBI and state law enforcement are now investigating the case. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters took to the streets Tuesday night at the intersection where Floyd died.
His death has drawn comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after he was placed in a chokehold by police.
Black Lives Matter activists from across the country have said on social media they plan to travel to Minneapolis.
