The police of Minneapolis, a city in the US state of Minnesota, have been dealing with years of structural discrimination against minorities and the use of excessive force. The US Department of Justice concluded this in a Friday damning report which was drawn up following the death of George Floyd. Floyd, 46, was a black American man who died in 2020 as a result of extreme police brutality.
The nearly 90-page investigative report shows that police officers regularly used violence, including “unjustified deadly force” and unreasonable use of tasers, especially against black and Native Americans. Both the police and the city of Minneapolis discriminated against people with behavioral disorders, even when officers were called upon to help these people. The report accuses the police of using “dangerous techniques and weapons” against people who committed minor offenses or, in some cases, posed no threat at all.
The report also outlines police brutality against protesters and journalists. The mayor of Minneapolis has said that he wants to reform the police with the help of the Justice Department, according to Reuters news agency. The Minnesota State Department of Human Rights came to a similar conclusion in a report earlier this year: Minneapolis police engage in racial profiling and systematic violence against black citizens.
Black Lives Matter
“The patterns and practices we observed may have enabled what happened to George Floyd,” the Minneapolis attorney general said in a news conference Friday, according to the AP news agency. Floyd was apprehended by white police officers in 2020 after a suspicion that he paid with a counterfeit dollar bill. The officers handcuffed Floyd and pinned him to the ground. One of the officers, Derek Chauvin, pushed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, despite cries from the man that he could no longer breathe. Then Floyd passed away.
Bystanders filmed the attack on Floyd, making the police brutality available to all to see. Floyd’s murder caused a stir and sparked a new wave of protests in the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide. His death also drew attention to the fact that excessive police brutality against minorities in the US is no exception. Former police officer Chauvin has been sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for Floyd’s death. The other three officers involved were also found guilty, but received a reduced sentence.
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