Update (May 26, 2020): Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced on Twitter that the four officers involved in the death of a Black man have been fired. The man was identified as George Floyd by Benjamin Crump, his family's attorney.

Police Chief Medaria Arradondo refused to say the officers' names but confirmed they no longer worked for the Minneapolis Police Department. He added that the FBI was looking into whether civil rights charges were appropriate in the case.

Frey spoke passionately about what happened and why quick action needed to be taken during an interview on Facebook Live. 

"This does not reflect the values that Chief Arradondo has worked tirelessly to instill. It does not represent the training we've invested in or the measures we've taken to ensure accountability. Being Black in America should not be a death sentence," Frey said.

"We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck. This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge," Crump said in a statement to CBS News.

Original (May 26, 2020): A Black man has died after being physically restrained by Minneapolis police Monday. A video shared online showed a white officer kneeling on his neck as he insisted multiple times that he could not breathe.

According to Daily Mail, police said the man matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case and resisted arrest when the police arrived. Officers were called at approximately 8 p.m. Monday to investigate a report of a forgery at a business and found the man matching the suspect’s description in his car nearby, according to police spokesperson John Elder. 

“He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers,” Elder said according to ABC News. “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress.”

Officers involved in the incident are under investigation by the FBI for their involvement in the man’s death. The case draws comparisons to that of Eric Garner, an unarmed Black man who died in 2014 after being placed in a chokehold by police in New York. Garner was also heard on tape pleading with officers to stop restricting his breathing before his death. 

“Please, please, please I can’t breathe. Please, man,” the man said to the officer.


The man was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died shortly after, per police reports.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump has identified the man as George Floyd. Writer and social activist Shaun King reports Floyd was approached by police because a clerk at a grocery store said he tried to falsify a check. 

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has joined in on the investigation and has received all body camera footage available on the incident, ABC News reports. Officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation. 

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