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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), as a Minnesota county prosecutor in the early 2000s, refused to prosecute the police officer now at the center of the controversy surrounding the death of George Floyd.
Klobuchar, who served as the chief legal officer of Hennepin County, Minnesota, before ascending to the United States Senate, declined to charge Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for his role in the shooting death of Wayne Reyes in October 2006.
Reyes allegedly “stabbed his girlfriend and a male friend,” before fleeing in his vehicle and setting off a chase by law enforcement, according to a report on police brutality from the Minneapolis-based Communities United Against Police Brutality.
Chauvin, who at the time had been on the Minneapolis police force since 1999, was one of six officers involved in the pursuit. When Reyes was eventually stopped, Chauvin and the other officers claimed he aimed a shotgun towards them in a threatening manner. Reyes’s alleged burnishing of the weapon resulted in all six officers opening fire and killing him.
The incident, which was reported by The Guardian on Thursday, elicited widespread concern among Minneapolis residents at the time of Reyes’s death for what was seen as too strong a use of force. As such, Klobuchar, who was running for the U.S. Senate at the time of the shooting, was pressured by the local black community in Minneapolis to prosecute the officers involved.
In the weeks following the shooting, however, Klobuchar declined to act on the matter. Instead, having won her Senate race, she spent the remaining three months of her tenure between November 2006 and January 2007 planning for her transition to Washington, DC. The case eventually went to a grand jury in 2008, which opted not to charge the officers with any wrongdoing for their conduct.
Chauvin would continue to serve on the Minneapolis police force for the next decade and a half. It would not, though, be his last brush with controversy. In 2011, Chauvin would be placed on temporary leave after he and four other officers shot a Native American man, who was later charged with felony second-degree assault. Overall, Chauvin would face at least ten civilian complaints throughout his tenure with the force. Three of those, which arose because of his use of “derogatory language” and “demeaning tone” towards suspects, would result in oral reprimands.
His career officially came to an end earlier this week when he was fired for his involvement in Floyd’s death. The firing came after a video went viral showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck while attempting to arrest the man for alleged forgery. In the video, Floyd is heard pleading for help, claiming he cannot breathe, as Chauvin stands over him. Tou Thao, Chauvin’s partner who also has a record of police brutality complaints, is seen in the video refusing to intervene.
Since the video went viral, protests have arisen across Minnesota and other parts of the country from activists hoping to shine a light on what they see as the failures and inequities of the criminal justice system. Although most of the protests have been non-violent, several riots broke out in Minneapolis and neighboring Saint Paul on Wednesday and Thursday.
The attention drawn by both the protests and the riots has brought Klobuchar’s 2006 decision to not prosecute Chauvin back into the spotlight. Such scrutiny, however, comes at an inopportune moment for the senator, who leads the short-list to be former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate this November.
Even though Klobuchar was always going to face criticism for the law and order image she cultivated as a county prosecutor, the current situation in Minnesota disqualifies her in the eyes of many black Democrats and activists. The sentiment was perhaps best summed up by Sunny Hostin during an episode of ABC’s The View on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing that black people in Minneapolis are arrested at nine times the rate of a white person for nonviolent offenses,” Hostin said. She added “that this is why the black community has said that Amy Klobuchar is a nonstarter for them, because … she declined to prosecute over two dozen cases involving police killings of unarmed people.”
Minneapolis Mayor: Technique Used in Floyd Arrest ‘Not Authorized’ – Arresting Officer Needs to Be Charged
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During a press conference on Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said there isn’t a good answer for why the arresting officer in the death of George Floyd is not behind bars and called for the arresting officer to be charged. He also stated that the technique that was used on Floyd during his arrest isn’t allowed by the Minneapolis police and its officers are not trained to use it.
Frey stated, “Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail? If you had done it, or I had done it. We would be behind bars right now. And I cannot come up with a good answer to that question. And so, I’m calling on Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to act on the evidence before him. I’m calling on him to charge the arresting officer in this case.”
Frey later added, “We watched, for five whole, excruciating minutes, as a white officer firmly pressed his knee into the neck of an unarmed, handcuffed black man. … By the way, there — that particular technique that was used is not authorized by the MPD. It is not something that officers are trained in — on. And it should not be used, period.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
1:18
During a press conference on Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said there isn’t a good answer for why the arresting officer in the death of George Floyd is not behind bars and called for the arresting officer to be charged. He also stated that the technique that was used on Floyd during his arrest isn’t allowed by the Minneapolis police and its officers are not trained to use it.
Frey stated, “Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail? If you had done it, or I had done it. We would be behind bars right now. And I cannot come up with a good answer to that question. And so, I’m calling on Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to act on the evidence before him. I’m calling on him to charge the arresting officer in this case.”
Frey later added, “We watched, for five whole, excruciating minutes, as a white officer firmly pressed his knee into the neck of an unarmed, handcuffed black man. … By the way, there — that particular technique that was used is not authorized by the MPD. It is not something that officers are trained in — on. And it should not be used, period.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
28 May 2020
The condemns the Memorial Day murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota and demands the prosecution of the police officers who are responsible for his death.
The killing of George Floyd is a horrific crime. Floyd, who was African American, died Monday after being pinned to the ground by four police officers in front of a crowd that was pleading that he be let go. Much of the crime was caught on bystander video and surveillance cameras.
One video shows officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, forcefully pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as the 46-year-old pleaded for his life, crying out “I can’t breathe” and “You are going to kill me!”
George Floyd (Photo: Offices of Ben Crump Law)
Floyd was detained after a call from a local shop that he had attempted to use a forged ten-dollar bill. The store owner later told media that he did not know if Floyd even knew if it was forged. Police rushed to the scene, seized Floyd, pulled him from his vehicle, handcuffed him, and then held him in a chokehold until his body went limp.
The three other officers who helped restrain Floyd have been identified as Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng.
While the official police report stated that Floyd resisted arrest, surveillance video released Wednesday by a local restaurant owner makes clear that he did not struggle at any point as he was taken out of his car and handcuffed by police.
Despite his death being a clear murder in broad daylight without any justification, as of Wednesday evening Chauvin, Lane, Thao and Kueng remain free men. They were suspended without pay by the police department and then fired by Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey in response to popular anger Tuesday.
The killing and refusal to arrest Floyd’s killers has generated anger among workers of all races who have taken part in two days of demonstrations.
Thousands of workers and youth, both white and black, turned out Tuesday to protest at the intersection where Floyd was killed and at a nearby police station. Police unloaded round after round of tear gas and non-lethal rounds to disperse the angry demonstration. Further demonstrations were organized last night in Minneapolis and other cities throughout the US.
The murder of George Floyd is the latest in an unending string of deaths at the hands of US police. So far this year, according to killedbypolice.net, there have been 400 police killings. The number killed every year is more than 1,000.
It has been nearly six years since Michael Brown was shot to death in Ferguson, Missouri (August 9, 2014) and Eric Garner was strangled to death in New York City (July 17, 2014), sparking mass demonstrations against police violence. Some 6,000 people have been killed by police in the intervening period.
No doubt racism plays a role in incidents of police violence. While the greatest number of police killings is of whites, African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately targeted for harassment, abuse, arrest and incarceration. The Trump administration has deliberately cultivated the most backward and reactionary layers, including among police officers. Trump has proclaimed that he likes watching footage of “rough” treatment of “thugs,” and has urged police not to be “too nice.”
The source of police violence, however, is not racial antagonism, but class oppression. The unifying characteristic among victims of police violence—black, white, Hispanic or Native American—is that they are poor and among the most vulnerable segments of the population.
The role of Black Lives Matter and other proponents of racial politics, in claiming that racism is the cause of police violence, is to promote the idea that hiring more black police officers or electing more black politicians will resolve the problem. Inevitably, this means channeling opposition behind the Democratic Party, one of the twin parties of Wall Street and the military. And the epidemic of police violence continues unabated.
This reign of terror raged under the watch of Democratic President Barack Obama and continues under the fascistic Republican Donald Trump. Regardless of whether a state has a Democratic or Republican governor, if the mayor or police chief is black, white, male, female, straight or gay, police killings continue unabated.
It is three years since a Somali-American Minneapolis police officer shot and killed Justine Damond, a white woman, in her back alley and four years since a Hispanic police officer in a nearby suburb killed Philando Castille, an African American man, during a traffic stop which was broadcast live on Facebook.
After a particularly brutal act of police violence is publicly exposed—inevitably because it chanced to be caught on film—the politicians, Democrat and Republican, engaged in handwringing and promises of an investigation. Almost always, these investigations fail to lead to prosecutions and convictions.
State power, Lenin noted in his The State and Revolution is composed of “special bodies of armed men having prisons, etc. at their command.” Citing Friedrich Engels, Lenin noted that the state is fundamentally “a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms,” and that the power and violence of the state “grows stronger… in proportion as class antagonisms within the state become more acute.”
With the coronavirus pandemic, these class antagonisms are entering a new stage. The corporate and financial oligarchy, after doing nothing to protect the population, has used the pandemic to transfer trillions of dollars to itself, unanimously endorsed by the Democratic and Republican politicians.
This has been followed by a campaign to “reopen the economy” and force workers to endanger their lives to pay off Wall Street. At the same time, the ruling elite plans on using mass unemployment and the bankrupting of the state to increase exploitation, slash social programs and impoverish the population.
The conflict between the financial aristocracy and the working class is the fundamental source of the brutality and violence of the state. The same conflict creates the objective foundation for a political movement that can put an end to this brutality: the independent and united movement of the entire working class, to take political power into its own hands and put an end to the capitalist profit system.
Video: Fires Rage Across Minneapolis Overnight in George Floyd Protests
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Multiple buildings in Minneapolis burned through the night Wednesday as protesters turned to riots over the death of George Floyd, who died Monday after a police officer was seen on video putting his knee on his neck, according to reports.
Protesters set fire to businesses, including an Autozone and Cub Foods, while an apartment complex under construction was also reportedly damaged by flames.
Protesters have started a fire in the autozone next to the police precinct #GeorgeFloyd #Minneapolis @USATODAY pic.twitter.com/UI13FjXVEN— Zach Boyden-Holmes (@Boydenphoto) May 28, 2020
A fire was started at AutoZone. Some protesters attempted to extinguish it some posed for photos. pic.twitter.com/1EGwTPrUTq— Carlos Gonzalez (@CarlosGphoto) May 28, 2020
This was the scene in South Minneapolis about an hour ago. A multi-story apartment building under construction near the corner of Lake & Minnehaha caught fire, early Thursday Morning. The flames were visible from as far away as Bloomington. @KARE11 @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/45cjH5JNvH— Dave Peterlinz (@DPet_KARE11News) May 28, 2020
Building engulfed in flames as riots erupt in Minneapolis following the death in police custody of George Floyd. https://t.co/5MVr8yQIO0 pic.twitter.com/I1zsXRecBX— ABC News (@ABC) May 28, 2020
DRONE VIDEO: Fires still burning on East Lake Street in south Minneapolis after protests over death of #GeorgeFloyd devolved into rioting and looting overnight. https://t.co/GuJ4l0C4JP pic.twitter.com/5FjPuL5b3c— FOX 9 (@FOX9) May 28, 2020
Some photos of the Wendy’s near the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/JxmeSiUT8P— Tony Webster (@webster) May 28, 2020
The neighborhood just north of the Minneapolis police 3rd precinct is still dystopian this morning. Ash drifting in the air, alarms sounding, hardly an intact window for blocks. pic.twitter.com/vIDLzHw3I1— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) May 28, 2020
In addition to several buildings being lit on fire, stores like Target store on Lake Street were ransacked by dozens of apparent looters who stole televisions and groceries, according to videos shared to social media by Fox 9 reporter Karen Scullin.
Target is being looted pic.twitter.com/GCGteCG8gV— Karen Scullin FOX9 (@kscullinfox9) May 27, 2020
Stealing TV’s and groceries, clothes pic.twitter.com/pxkBl9UO7L— Karen Scullin FOX9 (@kscullinfox9) May 27, 2020
The inside of the Target is smoky; people are trying to break into the cash registers. Alarm is blaring pic.twitter.com/qfd97sfNTr— Ricardo Lopez (@rljourno) May 28, 2020
Other reported looters were seen at Dollar Tree, a liquor store, and a tobacco store, reported ABC 5.
The protests came as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for the arrest of the police officer seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck before his death.
The mayor urged Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to file charges against the officer, whom the city identified as Derek Chauvin. In a video taken by a witness, Chauvin can be seen kneeling and putting his weight on the neck of George Floyd, who struggled and said he could not breathe.
The Minneapolis Police Department fired Chauvin and three other officers involved in the arrest — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao.
“Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” Frey asked during a news conference Wednesday. “If you had done it or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now and I cannot come up with an answer to that question.”
The mayor said his call for charges against Chauvin is based on the footage from the scene.
The UPI contributed to this report.
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