‘HE DESERVES JUSTICE’

Minneapolis Mayor Calls for Officer in George Floyd’s Death to Be Charged

“If you had done it or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday called for the officer who was filmed kneeling on George Floyd’s neck to be arrested and charged in his death. “I’ve wrestled, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, with one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” Frey said at a press conference. “If you had done it or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now. I cannot come up with a good answer to that question.” Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, lost consciousness after saying repeatedly “I can’t breathe” while he was held down by an officer identified in reports as Derek Chauvin. The four officers involved in the incident were fired on Tuesday after the viral video sparked national outrage. 

“We cannot turn a blind eye,” Frey said. “It is on us as leaders to see this for what it is and call it what it is. George Floyd deserves justice.” The mayor said he watched the video for “five whole excruciating minutes,” adding, “I saw no threat. I saw nothing that would signal that this kind of force was necessary.”