George Floyd: Minneapolis riots mirror the 1992 Rodney King riots of LA, the last time Army was called in
The death of George Floyd has sparked riots in Minneapolis, where vehicles were set ablaze, buildings were vandalized and ransacked, and a police precinct was razed.
The severity of the situation is one unseen since the Rodney King riots in 1992, and the Associated Press reported that in a bid to tame the violent protests, the federal government could invoke a law that was last used when Los Angeles burned.
Floyd died on Memorial Day after four Minneapolis police officers responded to the city's south over reports of a "forgery in progress." In a video that has been viewed millions of times on social media, Derek Chauvin was seen kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes even as he pleaded he could not breathe.
The 46-year-old eventually lost consciousness and became unresponsive and could not be saved, either by paramedics or doctors at the Hennepin County Medical Center. He was declared dead the same day.
The widespread protests that have engulfed the city since have seen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz order 500 National Guard troops to the city. But with the situation still escalating, the Pentagon has reportedly ordered the Army to ready personnel from North Carolina and New York for deployment in the state.
Donald Trump is said to have asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper to make the option available during a phone call on Thursday, May 28, with a senior Pentagon official confirming that military police units could be sent to Minneapolis under the Insurrection Act of 1807.
The Act gives the president the power to deploy American troops in any state to suppress "any insurrection, unlawful combination, or conspiracy," and was last invoked almost three decades ago by George HW Bush in an attempt to quell the riots in Los Angeles.
While White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah and a Pentagon spokesman both insisted no request had been made for active-duty personnel yet, the move wouldn't come as a surprise considering the parallels between the Minneapolis and Los Angeles riots.
Rodney King and two other passengers had been barreling down the Foothill Freeway in the Lake View Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles at 115 mph on March 3, 1991, when they were given chase by California Highway Patrol (CHP).
After his car was stopped, five white Los Angeles Police Department officers — Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano —surrounded King, tased him, hit him repeatedly with side-handled batons, and then finally tackled him to the ground before handcuffing him.
Unbeknownst to the officers, the entire incident was captured on film by local civilian George Holliday from his nearby apartment, and the 12-minute tape highlighting police brutality against the African-American community became the talk of the country.
A little over a year later, a jury acquitted all four officers of assault and three of the four of using excessive force. The unrest that was already visible in the 300-strong crowd which had gathered outside the courtroom in eager anticipation of the verdict turned into a full-blown riot following the officers' acquittal, peaking in intensity over the next two days. By the time the situation was brought under control, property damages exceeded $1 billion, 63 had died, 2,383 were injured, and 12,000 had been arrested.
Floyd had been confronted by the four Minneapolis police officers for allegedly forging a $20 bill to buy some cigarettes. While police claimed he was "under the influence" and "physically resisted" arrest, video evidence filmed by Darnella Frazier indicated he had done nothing to elicit such a response.
Though all four officers involved in the incident were almost immediately fired, the delay in bringing charges against them — only Chauvin has been arrested so far — has seen the African-American community take to the streets in violent protest.
The Associated Press reported that more than 200 businesses have been damaged in the city's St Paul alone, with firefighters responding to at least 55 blazes. Apple Valley, Maplewood, Roseville, West St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Fridley have seen damages as well.
And while the Rodney King riots were primarily limited to Los Angeles, protests in Floyd's death have spread across several cities, including San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York City.