TW: Violence and Police Brutality
In this opinionated article, Aylah Graves details the events that took place surrounding the death of George Floyd and how the impact persists today in the aftermath of the Chauvin murder trial.
On May 25th, 2020, officers were called to a local convenience store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A store clerk claimed a man had bought something using a fake 20 dollar bill. Officers located the alleged suspect and, 17 minutes after arrival, he was pinned on the ground, unconscious, by three officers with a knee in his neck. This man’s name is George Floyd. Floyd died because of the wrongful procedure the officers followed. The actions these officers took were against any training and protocol they received.
The murder of George Floyd sparked international outrage, leading to protests in America and several other countries. People who were at the scene when he was killed were able to record what happened. This is why people demanded that the officers be arrested and charged-- because they saw the officers' actions as unlawful and unjust. The trial of Derek Chauvin was live-streamed and recorded.
Image: fortune.com
Officer Derek Chauvin was the officer found with his knee in Mr. Floyd's neck. After a three-week trial, Derek Chauvin was charged with manslaughter and second and third-degree murder. Many people feel that this is a huge milestone for our country. Police brutality against black people and other people of color is common in America and is so often overlooked by people in power and people that do not experience it. Finally holding officers accountable for killing people while on the job, when the deaths of these victims are completely unjust, will hopefully create a spark of desperately needed change.
During Derek Chauvin's trial, many people were called to the stand. Prosecutor Steve Sleicher asked Chief Medaria Arradondo if he thought the use of force was within policy, according to the video evidence of Chauvin. Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo responded, “It is not.” Arradondo also stated that “Once Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting, and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, that should have stopped.” He noted that Chauvin's excessive use of force is against Minneapolis police policy and all training.
Some people have argued that, as Mr.Floyd was able to speak, he was able to breathe. Dr. Martin Tobin, an expert pulmonologist was called to the stand. He said, “ a person might be taking in enough oxygen to speak but not enough to survive. The person can be alive and talking one moment, and dead just seconds later”. George Floyd died of asphyxiation. Dr. Bill Smock, a surgeon for the police department states that“ he died because of positional asphyxia which is a fancy way of saying that he died because there was no oxygen left in his body.”
Several other people were called to testify. The doctors all found that the cause of death was asphyxiation and this was because of the unjustified use of force on George Floyd. Derek Chauvin will spend the next several years in prison. His and the other officer's actions were unjust and wrong.
This is an event that will be heavily debated moving forward. Regardless of anything that people claim about Mr.Floyd, the taking of his life was wrong. Floyd is not the one on trial. There is no justification for what happened to him. Hopefully, this conviction will bring peace to the hearts of those affected.
