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Black man dies after encounter with Minneapolis police “I can’t breathe”

The FBI is opening up an investigation after a fatal encounter on Monday between Minneapolis police and an unarmed black man.

On Tuesday police released a statement saying the man had a medical incident during an attempted arrest. However, in the video posted by Darnella Frazier on Facebook it is clear that an officer was using unnecessary force with his knee on the man’s neck for at least seven minutes. You can hear the man say “I can’t breathe” several times before he loses consciousness.

The man was identified by family as George Floyd.

According to Minneapolis police, the encounter between Floyd and officers happened shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, when police were called to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a man allegedly attempting to use a fake check at Cup Foods.

When officers arrived they found Floyd in a car near the store, and he appeared to be intoxicated, police said.

When officers told him to step out of the vehicle, he got out, and police say he physically resisted officers.

Minneapolis Police spokesman said “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and officers noticed that the man was going into medical distress.” An ambulance arrived and took Floyd to Hennepin Healthcare, where he later died, police say.

In the video that went viral overnight, it shows the white officer pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck behind a squad car. Floyd is seen unarmed, not resisting arrest, yet the officer does not take his knee of his neck. After about five minutes, Floyd stops moving and appears unconscious. Bystanders beg the officer to stop using so much force and to check Floyd’s pulse. The officer on Floyd’s neck does not lift his knee until medical personnel arrive even though he was already unconscious.

Leaders in Minnesota are calling for the officers involved to be held accountable

 

A protest being organized by a number of local activist groups, including the Minneapolis NAACP, Communities Against Police Brutality, and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities is planned for Tuesday night at the scene of the incident.