Samuel O. Adelaja

Following the unfortunate incidence that led to the death of George Floyd in the United States of America, there have been reported cases of wild protests across the states of the country.

George Floyd met his death during a forceful arrest by a group of Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020, in what could be described as a cruel and deliberate act by the supposed law protectors to squeeze life out of him.

The death of George had sparked wide reactions across the globe as calls for the prosecution of the officers involved heightened. Although, four of the Minneapolis Police team directly involved in the sad saga were immediately identified and relived of the jobs, this is not in any way halted the wind of wild protest spreading rapidly across many states of the Nation.

In Atlanta, protests took a different dimension as squad cars in front of the CNN building in the state were destroyed, while some Police stations were also reportedly torched.

President of the United States, Donald Trump, in a reaction to the ugly May 25 incidence, was reported to have fueled more anger in a tweet which many believed to have been an attempt at justifying the wrongs of the Police team. Mr. Trump posted a message on Twitter early Friday saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”.

 However, in a twist to the whole story, there was an indication that the report of the post mortem examination conducted did not find any evidence of “traumatic asphyxia or strangulation”. The medical examiner noted Mr. Floyd had underlying heart conditions and the combination of these, “potential intoxicants in his system” and being restrained by the officers “likely contributed to his death”.

The report says Mr. Chauvin had his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds – almost three minutes of which was after Mr Floyd became non-responsive.

Nearly two minutes before he removed his knee the other officers checked Mr. Floyd’s right wrist for a pulse and were unable to find one. He was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center in an ambulance and pronounced dead around an hour later.

 

 StarMedia Renaissance