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Four Minneapolis Cops Fired over George Floyd Death

Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired amid outrage over video footage showing an officer kneeling on the neck of a black man who died after being transported to the hospital in police custody. Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo announced the decision to fire the unnamed officers at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Mayor Jacob …

Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired amid outrage over video footage showing an officer kneeling on the neck of a black man who died after being transported to the hospital in police custody.

Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo announced the decision to fire the unnamed officers at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Mayor Jacob Frey said he “100 percent” supported the decision.

Frey revealed the identity of the deceased as George Floyd, whom police arrested Monday night after he “physically resisted officers” upon exiting a vehicle while under the apparent influence of an intoxicant.

“Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and realized that the suspect was suffering a medical distress,” a Minneapolis police spokesman said in a news briefing early Tuesday morning. “Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died a short time later.”

Video footage showed onlookers pleading with the officers to let Floyd breathe. A handcuffed Floyd eventually appeared to lose consciousness after several minutes, with the officer still kneeling on his neck.

The FBI will investigate the altercation as a potential civil-rights violation, after Arradondo said police had received “additional information” about the incident from a community source.

Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted a statement decrying “yet another horrifying and gutwrenching instance of an African American man dying.” She also called for “a complete and thorough outside investigation into what occurred.”

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