Owner of store where George Floyd used fake bill says he will never call cops again: 'Always does more harm'
The owner of the store in Minneapolis, outside which George Floyd was killed, released a statement on Tuesday, June 2, saying that he is not going to cooperate with the police or call cops anymore because it "always does more harm than good". Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed outside Mahmoud Abumayyaleh's store 'Cup Foods' in police custody.
Abumayyaleh said that he and his family were left "deeply saddened for our part of this tragedy," and added that the incident serves to "teach us all an important lesson about dealing with police". The grocery store owner, last week, had revealed that it was one of his employees who reported Floyd to police after the 46-year-old used a counterfeit $20 bill. The grocery store has been in the news in the background of widespread protests over Floyd's killing and has also faced backlash from many community members.
Abumayyaleh took to Facebook to write: "There is no justification for the use of reckless force displayed by the police that murdered George Floyd." Abumayyaleh was reportedly not present at the store at the time of Floyd's killing. The grocery store owner's nephew, however, had approached and rebuked the officers as they tackled Floyd. His nephew had intervened "asking him to take his knee off his neck because he could not breathe" but he was pushed away by the officers there.
"Despite the fact that George never resisted arrest, police proceeded to end George Floyd’s life over a counterfeit bill," he wrote. "It’s likely that George did not even know that he had a fake bill to begin with." Abumayyaleh, in his statement, said that his family will donate money to pay for Floyd's memorial service, and had been lending support to the family in these trying times as best as they could.
"We realize now that escalating situations to the police almost always does more harm than good, even for something as harmless as a fake bill," he wrote. "This is not an isolated incident: they have shown time and time again that they do not know how to peacefully handle conflicts in our community. By simply following procedure we are putting our communities in danger."
"Until the police stop killing innocent people, we will handle incidents like this one using non-violent tactics that do not involve police," he added. "We must stand together to fight against institutional racism."
The nationwide protests came as four Minneapolis police officers allegedly involved in Floyd's brutal death were fired on May 26 after a video of the incident went viral on social media. The footage showed Floyd pleading with officers as one of them, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck while the 46-year-old told them to let him stand because he could not breathe. The clip showed Floyd pleading with the officer to allow him to breathe and a few minutes later he became unconscious. Floyd's death has sparked massive protests and unrest in Minneapolis and across the country. Chauvin, 44, was arrested last week on charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter, while the rest of the officers have not yet been arrested.