Protests erupt in US over police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd

Four Minneapolis officers involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody have been fired, hours after a bystander's video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man's neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving.

Mayor Jacob Frey announced the firings on Twitter on Tuesday, saying "This is the right call.”

The man's death Monday night was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities. It immediately drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after he was placed in a chokehold by police and pleaded for his life, saying he could not breathe.

In a post on his Facebook page, Frey apologised Tuesday to the black community for the officer's treatment of the man, who was later identified as 46-year-old George Floyd, who worked security at a restaurant.

“Being Black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a Black man's neck. Five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you're supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense,” Frey posted.

Police said the man matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case at a grocery store, and that he resisted arrest.

The video starts with the shirtless man on the ground, and does not show what happened in the moments prior. The unidentified officer is kneeling on his neck, ignoring his pleas. “Please, please, please, I can't breathe. Please, man,” said Floyd, who has his face against the pavement.

Floyd also moans. One of the officers tells him to relax. The man calls for his mother and says: “My stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts ... I can't breathe.”

As bystanders shout their concern, one officer says, “He's talking, so he's breathing.” But Floyd stops talking and slowly becomes motionless under the officer's restraint. The officer does not remove his knee until the man is loaded onto a gurney by paramedics.

Several witnesses had gathered on a nearby sidewalk, some recording the scene on their phones. The bystanders become increasingly agitated. One man yells repeatedly.

Two witnesses, including one woman who said she was a Minneapolis firefighter, yell at the officers to check the man's pulse. 

At one point, an officer says: “Don't do drugs, guys.” And one man yells, “Don't do drugs, bro? What is that? What do you think this is?”

The Hennepin County medical examiner identified Floyd but said the cause of death was pending.

Floyd had worked security for five years at a restaurant called Conga Latin Bistro and rented a home from the restaurant owner, Jovanni Thunstrom.

He was a good friend, person and a good tenant, the restaurateur told the Star Tribune. He was family. His co-workers and friends loved him. Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights and personal injury attorney, said he had been hired by Floyd's family.

“We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck,” Crump said in a statement. “This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the department would conduct a full internal investigation. Police did not identify the officers, but attorney Tom Kelly confirmed he is representing Derek Chauvin, the officer seen with his knee on Floyd's neck. Kelly declined to comment further.

Police did not immediately respond to a request for Chauvin's service record.

News accounts show he was one of six officers who fired their weapons in the 2006 death of Wayne Reyes, whom police said pointed a sawed-off shotgun at officers after stabbing two people. Chauvin also shot and wounded a man in 2008 in a struggle after Chauvin and his partner responded to a reported domestic assault.

Several hundred protesters gathered Tuesday evening in the street where Floyd died, chanting and carrying banners that read, “I can't breathe” and “Jail killer KKKops.” They eventually marched about 2 1/2 miles to a city police precinct, with some protesters damaging windows, a squad car and spraying graffiti on the building.

Experts on police use of force told The Associated Press that the officer clearly restrained the man too long. They noted the man was under control and no longer fighting.

Andrew Scott, a former Boca Raton, Florida, police chief who now testifies as an expert witness in use-of-force cases, called Floyd's death a combination of not being trained properly or disregarding their training. “He couldn't move. He was telling them he couldn't breathe, and they ignored him," Scott said.

"I can't even describe it. It was difficult to watch. The New York City officer in the Garner case said he was using a legal maneuver called the seatbelt to bring down Garner, whom police said had been resisting arrest. But the medical examiner referred to it as a chokehold in the autopsy report and said it contributed to his death. Chokehold maneuvers are banned under New York police policy.