A Minneapolis policeman accused of killing unarmed African-American George Floyd by kneeling on his neck was taken into custody Friday and charged with third-degree murder, officials said.<\/p>\n
Derek Chauvin is one of four officers who were fired shortly after an explosive video emerged showing a handcuffed Floyd lying on the street as an officer identified as Chauvin pinned his knee to Floyd\u2019s neck for at least five minutes on Monday.<\/p>\n
The death of the 46-year-old Floyd has sparked days of sometimes violent demonstrations in Minneapolis and other US cities over police brutality against African-Americans.<\/p>\n
So far, hundreds of shops have been damaged and a police station set on fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormer Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is in custody,\u201d Hennepin county prosecutor Mike Freeman told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cChauvin has been charged\u2026 with murder and with manslaughter,\u201d he added, specifying to reporters that the charge was third-degree murder.<\/p>\n
US Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota applauded Chauvin\u2019s arrest, calling it \u201cthe first step towards justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Racism cannot be \u2018normal\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In the graphic video footage, Floyd is seen saying that he can not breathe. Eventually he went silent and limp, and he was later declared dead.<\/p>\n Protests swelled after federal authorities said Thursday that they were making the case a top priority but announced no arrests at that time.<\/p>\n Overnight, demonstrators broke through law enforcement barriers to overtake the Minneapolis police station where the four officers blamed for Floyd\u2019s death were based.<\/p>\n A fire broke out and soon became an inferno that engulfed the structure.<\/p>\n Minnesota\u2019s national guard announced that 500 troops were being deployed Friday for peacekeeping amid signs that the anger was nowhere near dissipating.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump blasted local officials and labelled the protesters \u201cthugs,\u201d threatening a harsh crackdown.<\/p>\n \u201cThese THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won\u2019t let that happen,\u201d Trump tweeted.<\/p>\n \u201cJust spoke to (Minnesota) Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.\u201d<\/p>\n Twitter concealed that tweet, saying it violated its policy on glorifying violence.<\/p>\n Former president Barack Obama said Friday he shared the \u201canguish\u201d of millions of Americans over Floyd\u2019s death and that racism cannot be \u201cnormal\u201d in the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can\u2019t be \u2018normal,’\u201d Obama, the first black US president, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must do better.\u201d<\/p>\n Channels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Minneapolis policeman accused of killing unarmed African-American George Floyd by kneeling on his neck was taken into custody Friday and charged with third-degree murder, officials said. Derek Chauvin is one of four officers who were fired shortly after an explosive video emerged showing a handcuffed Floyd lying on the street as an officer identified […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t