By Erin Ailworth, Sadie Gurman and Ben Kesling
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sent in the National
Guard as demonstrators clashed with police for a third straight day
to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a
white officer pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck in
an incident captured on video.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who has called for the police
officers involved in the incident to be criminally charged, had
requested the assistance.
Meanwhile on Thursday, calls for criminal charges continued to
grow. Federal and state authorities have said they are
investigating.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, the official responsible
for bringing charges, said that by itself, the video -- which has
circulated on social media -- won't necessarily be enough evidence
on which to base a criminal case.
"That video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person
should do that," he said. "But my job in the end is to prove that
he violated criminal statute. And there is other evidence that does
not support a criminal charge. We need to wade through all of that
evidence to come to a meaningful determination and we are doing
that to the best of our ability." Mr. Freeman didn't elaborate on
the other evidence.
The officers aren't cooperating with the investigation, Mr.
Freeman said.
The Justice Department said it has made the investigation a
priority, assigning experienced prosecutors and FBI criminal
investigators to the case to probe whether the officers willfully
violated Mr. Floyd's civil rights. "It's really imperative that the
community understands how seriously we're taking this and how
swiftly we're moving on this," said U.S. Attorney Erica
MacDonald.
Bringing federal civil-rights charges against police is a
challenge, as prosecutors must reach a difficult standard of proof
that requires them to establish that an officer not only acted with
excessive force but also willfully violated someone's
constitutional rights.
State prosecutors are able to pursue a wider array of criminal
charges under state law, such as manslaughter or aggravated
assault.
In Minneapolis, a large crowd gathered in a plaza outside the
Hennepin County Government Center, waving signs, chanting George
Floyd's name and calling for charges against the officers involved
in his arrest. Those demonstrations started peacefully Thursday
evening but turned tense when police officers in riot gear
approached protesters who screamed at them. Police shot flash-bang
grenades and tear gas into the crowds. Protesters marching through
downtown, passing by a boarded up Lumber Exchange Building, shouted
with their hands up in the air. Some poured milk into their eyes to
ease the sting of the gas.
Protests in nearby St. Paul also turned violent, as some people
smashed store windows.
Protests spread Thursday to other cities, including New York,
Denver and Chicago. More than 30 people were arrested on various
charges at several protests around New York City on Thursday night,
police officials said. The demonstrations, which began at Union
Square in Manhattan, grew violent as one protester threw a garbage
can at an officer and another punched an officer, according to the
officials. Offshoot protests formed in locations around lower
Manhattan, the officials said, including Zuccotti Park near Wall
Street.
The majority of the mass-transit service in Minneapolis has been
suspended through at least the afternoon and evening because of
protests.
The mayor, a 38-year-old member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Party, said that the last several nights of unrest revealed 400
years of frustration in the black community. But he said it was
critical that the city protect infrastructure like grocery stores,
drugstores and banks that are necessary to protect health during
the coronavirus pandemic.
Minneapolis Chief of Police Medaria Arradondo said there was a
shift in tenor during the second night of protests with "a core
group of people that had been focused on causing destruction."
Efforts to control the crowd broke down as it grew in size, he
said. "We were certainly prepared for that immediate area," he
said. "The crowds got larger, and they got more mobile."
The Minneapolis area has a history of tension between the
African-American community and law enforcement, including the 2016
killing of Philando Castile, a black man, by a police officer in a
nearby suburb. Months before that, the shooting of a black man in
the city led to protests, including a Black Lives Matter encampment
at a police precinct.
Mr. Arradondo became police chief in 2017 after an
officer-involved shooting led to the resignation of his
predecessor. In 2007, he was one of several officers who sued the
police department over discrimination against officers of color.
Mr. Frey helped develop a stronger policy on the use of police body
cameras early in his term.
Leslie Redmond, president for the Minneapolis NAACP, said there
is support in the community for the city's current chief of police,
unlike with past chiefs.
"Chief Arradondo made the first right step in making sure the
officers were fired and now he needs to move forward and make sure
that they are charged because what we witnessed was murder," she
said.
The four officers involved in the Monday incident were fired
Tuesday morning.
In a Facebook video that emerged Tuesday, Mr. Floyd can be seen
being pinned to the ground by an officer identified as Derek
Chauvin, who has his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck. Other footage later
emerged showing two other officers sitting on Mr. Floyd's body. Mr.
Floyd is heard pleading that he can't breathe, and eventually loses
consciousness. A fire department crew called to assist found
paramedics working inside an ambulance on "an unresponsive,
pulseless male," a fire department report said. Mr. Floyd was
pronounced dead later that evening.
Two of the former officers who appear on the Facebook video, Mr.
Chauvin and Tou Thao, each have multiple complaints on their
official records, according to department records.
Mr. Chauvin has 18 complaints on his official record, two of
which ended in discipline from the department including official
letters of reprimand. Mr. Thao has six incidents on his record,
including one stemming from a 2017 lawsuit that was settled by the
city and which is still officially open in his record. The
department declined to comment on the details of the
complaints.
Mr. Thao was sued, along with another officer in 2017 for
excessive use of force, a case whose final terms were sealed as
terms of the settlement.
Tom Kelly, a lawyer for Mr. Chauvin, didn't respond to a request
for comment.
Mr. Thao couldn't be reached for comment.
Minneapolis police said they arrested Mr. Floyd on Monday for
using a counterfeit bill, and that he resisted arrest. Attorney
Benjamin Crump, who is representing Mr. Floyd's family, said the
man never resisted arrest and shouldn't have been treated so
violently.
Alvin Manago and Theresa Scott, an engaged couple, remembered
their friend and roommate, who liked to go by Floyd, as someone who
"always tried to be the peacemaker," Mr. Manago recalled.
They said they were trying to forget the images in the Facebook
video. Instead, they warmly recalled how he would burn everything
he tried to cook, even hot dogs. How he liked to sing when he was
happy. How his laugh was a slow-building, full-body chuckle.
--Joe Barrett and Ben Chapman contributed to this article.
Write to Erin Ailworth at Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com, Sadie Gurman at
sadie.gurman@wsj.com and Ben Kesling at
benjamin.kesling@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 28, 2020 22:49 ET (02:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.