George Floyd death: Minneapolis City Council vows to 'dismantle' police department, rethink public safety
Members of the Minneapolis City Council has pledged to "dismantle" the police department after the nationwide outrage and protests over the murder of 46-year-old George Floyd. An official post-mortem examination declared the death of George Floyd as a homicide on Monday, June 1. Floyd died after a now ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over eight minutes while restraining him. In a video that went viral, Floyd repeatedly told the officer that he was unable to breathe but the officer did not budge.
In light of the horrific incident, which highlighted police brutality and a lack of regard for African-American lives, Minneapolis Council President Lisa Bender and other members joined in promises to change how public safety is handled in the city. Bender took to Twitter to say, "We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a transformative new model of public safety." Bender, along with colleagues like Jeremiah Ellison, has said that reforms to the department are not going to be enough. Ellison took to Twitter and wrote, "And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue [the department] back together."
"We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response," Ellison's tweet read. Two out of thirteen members have endorsed the drastic changes to policing in the city since the death of Floyd on May 25, Fox News reveals. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck while the man begged for his life saying he couldn't breathe while arresting him. Chauvin and the three other police officers who assisted the arrest have been charged with felonies as the nation erupted in anger and demanded justice.
According to The Star Tribune, Bender shared, "The timeline for the impact of the [temporary restraining order] is for this weekend. It’s for immediate accountability measures for the Police Department. It’s not meant to be anywhere near starting this bigger conversation." On Tuesday, June 2, the state Department of Human Rights filed a civil rights charge against the police department after citing Floyd's death. This is the first time that the human rights department has launched a systematic investigation into the largest police department in the state.
The body is planning on beginning to vote on legislation targeting the department. The council is planning to vote on legislation that would provide and determine a timeline for the state's investigation into whether the Minneapolis Police Department has engaged in racial discrimination over the past decade. No drastic changes will come any time soon with Bender saying that the discussions would continue and ramp later this year or the next. Bender shared, "To do this kind of big work, we need a deeper, broader conversation than we’ve ever had before."
"We need white people like me and my neighbors to show up in a different way," Bender added. We had earlier reported that the three now-former Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the death of George Floyd have all been arrested and taken into custody, according to reports. Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J Alexander Kueng were pictured in prison attire in the mugshots released by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, on Wednesday, June 3, while the three other former Minneapolis police officers were charged with aiding and abetting murder.