Minneapolis Mayor says George Floyd would still be alive if he were white

The Mayor of Minneapolis says he believes George Floyd would still be alive today if he had been white as it’s revealed the 46-year-old black man was arrested, pinned to the ground, and ‘murdered’ by cops for allegedly trying to pay at a local deli with a counterfeit $20 bill. 

Floyd, a father of two, died on Monday night after a white police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes in an incident that was captured on video and has sparked violent protests and riots in the city that left one looter dead.

In widely circulated footage of his arrest, Floyd was seen on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back as white officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the pavement until he lost consciousness and later died.      

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Mahmoud Abumayyaleh, the co-owner of Cup Foods deli, broke his silence revealing one of his employees had called the police after Floyd allegedly handed them a bogus bill. 

Minneapolis Police said Floyd had been suspected of forgery however, they have not publicly confirmed whether or not he was using counterfeit bills. 

It comes after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he considers Floyd’s public killing to be murder. 

‘I’m not a prosecutor, but let me be clear. The arresting officer killed someone,’ he told CBS. ‘He’d be alive today if he were white.’ 

‘The facts that I’ve seen, which are minimal, certainly lead me down the path that race was involved.’ 

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It comes as:  

• State troopers were forced to intervene after protests and riots broke out in Minneapolis for a second night
• Cup Foods deli owner revealed an employee called the police after Floyd allegedly paid with a fake $20 bill 
• The family, including Floyd’s brother Philonise, called for the four officers to be charged and now plan to have an independent autopsy performed
• Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey publicly called for white Officer Derek Chauvin to be criminally charged   
• New video footage cast doubt on claims Floyd resisted arrest, showing two cops forcibly removing him from his car and he appears to be complying with officers   
• A protest broke out in the streets of downtown LA Wednesday night over Floyd’s death with one man being taken to hospital after he fell from a moving police cruiser 
• Minneapolis protesters escalated into violence Wednesday as cops and protesters clashed and stores including Target, AutoZone and Walmart were ransacked and set on fire by looters 
• A looter was shot dead in Minneapolis Wednesday night and officers had arrested a man for homicide

On Wednesday, Mayor Frey publicly called for officer Derek Chauvin to be arrested and criminally charged after all four cops involved in the fatal arrest were fired. 

They were identified as Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng.  

Frey said that most people, especially people of color, would already be sitting behind bars over the incident as he urged Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to lay charges on the officer.   

‘I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: “Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?”‘ he said. 

He later added: ‘I saw no threat. I saw nothing that would signal that this kind of force was necessary.’ 

Store owner Abumayyaleh, who also said he did not see Floyd resisting officers, revealed events leading up to the deadly arrest were captured on the grocery store’s surveillance footage but cannot be shared publicly because it is under investigation.  

He said Floyd had already exited the store after one of his workers had noticed the cash he used was ‘fake.’ 

‘My staff called the police, practicing protocol, and when the police arrived Floyd was still outside and that’s when they approached him,’ Abumayyaleh told Don Lemon. 

The store owner said a family member later witnessed Floyd being restrained outside and tried to intervene, asking the officer to take his knee off the man. 

‘I viewed [the footage] and what I saw was devastating. It was very heartbreaking, and our condolences go out to the family and friends of George Floyd.’  

When asked if he saw Floyd resisting arrest Abumayyaleh said he did not, before adding: ‘Our camera angle shows exactly what was reported by the outside bystander. What I see is exactly what you see.’

Cup Foods, which has been in the community for over 30 years, has been at the background of protests in the wake of Floyd’s death and has copped backlash from angry residents, Abumayyaleh said. 

‘Although we have a village of supporters behind us, there’s a small percentage of people who are angry and want answers, and we understand that.

‘But let’s take that anger towards the people who took the action against the individual that was killed. 

‘Let’s take that anger and use it towards bridging and fixing the problem in our system that is causing minorities in this country to be killed,’ he added.

Minneapolis was bracing for a third night of violence on Thursday after protests in the city turned deadly overnight. 

State troopers have already been called in and Mayor Frey asked for the National Guard’s help after one suspected looter was fatally shot and stores were left ransacked and torched. 

Shocking images Thursday morning showed the widespread destruction left overnight after stores including Wendy’s, Target, Walmart and Autozone were looted and some even set on fire.  

Mayor Frey pleaded for calm ahead of more expected protests this evening telling residents ‘we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy.’ 

Videos also showed what was reported to be an apartment building entirely engulfed by flames as rioters stood and watched and the fire department was nowhere to be seen. 

Outside a GM Tobacco store, a group of four men with huge firearms were seen and said they had come to protect local businesses from looters.

DailyMail.com also exclusively reported that protesters on Wednesday even gathered outside the home of fired officer Derek Chauvin and scrawled the word ‘Murderer’ on his driveway. 

A sign was propped up at the end of his driveway reading ‘People don’t kill people, cops do’ as calls mounted for the fired cop to face murder charges over Floyd’s death. 

Other demonstrators carried signs and wore T-shirts reading ‘I can’t breathe’ – some of the last words Floyd said as he begged the police officer for his life. 

Some held signs reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ and pictures of Floyd as they marched on the property.

They were then met by a wall of police officers who had set up security around Chauvin’s home. 

In a press conference following last night’s events, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said he ‘cannot allow criminal acts to occur and compound the trauma that already exists’.  

Floyd’s heartbroken brother Philonise Floyd also urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully, but said he understood the anger surrounding George’s death.  

‘I can’t stop people right now because they have pain. They have the same pain that I feel. I want everything to be peaceful but I can’t make everybody be peaceful. It’s hard,’ he told CNN. ‘They treated him worse than they treat animals.’  

‘I watched the video. It was hard but I had to watch. As I watched, those four officers – they executed my brother,’ he added.  

Floyd’s case has been compared to the 2014 killing of Eric Garner and has reignited tensions between law enforcement and the black community over police officers’ use of force on black suspects, particularly in non-violent offenses. 

Cops were reported to have located Floyd in his car near 38th and Chicago Ave on Monday after receiving calls of a ‘forgery in progress’ and alleged he had gotten out of the car before ‘physically resisting officers’. 

However additional footage later emerged casting doubt on the version of events as it appears to show Floyd cooperating with officers as he is manhandled out of his vehicle and placed in handcuffs.  

An initial statement released by the Minneapolis Police Department on Tuesday did not include details of officers’ altercation with Floyd and only mentioned he had suffered ‘medical distress’ following the arrest. 

A new incident report was also released Wednesday revealing medics arrived at the scene of Floyd’s arrest to find the black man already ‘unresponsive’ and ‘pulseless’.

The release of the MFD report sheds yet more light on Monday’s shocking events, detailing that fire crew were called to assist medics with a man – called ‘pt’ in the report – who had trauma to his mouth.

It states that Fire Station 17 of Minneapolis arrived outside the Cup Foods store to find ‘multiple squads on scene and small crowd of citizens’. The report points to confusion at the scene as neither the cops nor bystanders gave information to crew on Floyd or his location.

It says that while the crew tried to find Floyd to give medical support, they overheard and were told by ‘several people that the police “had killed the man”‘. The report adds that the bystanders were ‘upset but not unruly’.

Crew members were finally able to find a cop inside the store who told them medics had put Floyd in an ambulance and left the scene. 

Two crew members got into the ambulance where they found ‘an unresponsive, pulseless male’, the report states.

According to the report, medics never managed to recover a pulse on route to the hospital and Floyd’s ‘condition did not change’.

Protests over Floyd’s death entered their second day on Wednesday night, with chaos and disruption spilling onto the streets of Minneapolis as protesters clashed with police.   

The demonstrations took a violent turn when a suspected looter was shot dead outside a pawn shop.

Minneapolis Department Police Chief John Elder confirmed in a midnight press conference that one person was shot and killed and that another person was being held in custody. 

Elder said officers had responded to reports of a possible stabbing at around 9.25pm between Bloomington and Lake Street

The body of a man – who medics later confirmed had been shot – was found lying on the sidewalk outside the Cadillac Pawn shop by police officers who performed CPR on him. 

News helicopter footage showed protesters milling in streets near Minneapolis’s 3rd Precinct station, with some running in and out of nearby stores. 

A Target, a Cub Foods, a Dollar Tree and an auto parts store all showed signs of damage and looting. As darkness fell, fire erupted in the auto parts store, and city fire crews rushed to control it. Protesters set other fires in the street.

Officers could be seen surrounding the nearby precinct, not attempting to intervene in the looting. 

Multiple fires burned early Thursday at buildings and smoke hung over the city. Fire crews worked to put out flames. Blocks of buildings with broken-out windows and other damage from looting were seen, and KSTP-TV reported that some people were seen going through buildings. 

During the riots, a woman in a wheelchair was punched in the head and sprayed with a fire extinguisher after trying to block protesters – allegedly with a knife in her hand. 

Elder said that ‘everything was done that we could do to try to preserve this man’s life’ but the adult male died in hospital. 

The police chief refused to confirm reports that the shooter was the owner of the pawn shop who shot the victim dead because he was looting his store.  

He said this was ‘one theory’ but that police are investigating ‘a couple of different scenarios that might have happened’.

Elder would not divulge what the other scenarios are. He added that there had been no other reports of injuries among protesters or police officers.

The police chief also slammed the actions of looters and rioters which he branded ‘disrespectful’ to Floyd’s family and to all the protesters who gathered peacefully to demand justice over his death. 

‘If people are there to truly honor the man and his family this isn’t how you do it and it’s so disrespectful and it’s heartbreaking,’ he said. 

‘People are utilizing this as a purpose just to make bad decisions.’ 

A source told KSTP that the city has requested support from the National Guard to bring the violence under control. 

Wellwishers raise over $1 MILLION for George Floyd’s family in just over 24 hours on GoFundMe as they call for cops who ‘murdered’ him to be arrested 

Family members of George Floyd, who was ‘murdered’ by a cop who knelt on his neck, have raised over $1million towards his funeral in just over 24 hours.

Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, set up a GoFundMe page on Wednesday afternoon, less than two days after footage emerged of 46-year-old George passing out on the ground on Monday after four officers arrested him for allegedly trying to use forged documents at a Minneapolis deli.

George Floyd later died in hospital in an incident that is now under investigation by the FBI and has triggered a national outcry, with thousands of protesters to taking to the streets in scenes that have since erupted into violence.

But in the wake of the tragedy, his surviving family members have been overwhelmed with kindness, with 43,000 different donors raising a staggering $1,020,020 in just 22 hours towards George Floyd’s memorial fund.  

‘On May 25, 2020, my life shattered as I learned of the tragic passing of my dear brother, George,’ Philonise Floyd wrote in a statement on the fundraiser.

‘From the bottom of our hearts my family thanks each of you who have reached out,’ he continued. ‘While we are not able to respond to each expression of love at this time, please know that we love and appreciate each and every one of you. Our hearts are overwhelmed!’ 

Philonise Floyd described how his family watched on in terror when they saw the harrowing and now infamous footage of Floyd being pinned to the ground near the back tire of a police car by a white officer, Derek Chauvin, who is kneeling down on his neck.

Floyd his heard pleading with the cop to stop several times over the course of six minutes, crying out to him, ‘Please, please, I can’t breathe’ and ‘My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts,’ before eventually losing consciousness.

‘What we saw on that tape left us shell shocked; a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling directly on my brother’s neck, obstructing his ability to breathe,’ Philonise Floyd recounted. ‘As some officers knelt on his neck, other officers participated and watched; no one took any action to save my brother’s life.’

‘Those officers would continue to brutalize my brother until he died,’ he said.

Newly emerged video shows him being manhandled and forcibly removed from his vehicle by two officers as he is placed in handcuffs outside of Cup Foods grocery store on 38th and Chicago Ave.

The 46-year-old appears to be complying with officers and not resisting the arrest. Police spokesman John Elder had earlier claimed Floyd was ‘ordered to step out from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers.’

Philonise Floyd fought back tears Thursday morning as he repeated his call for the four officers involved to be arrested for his brother’s murder.

‘I watched the video. It was hard but I had to watch the video. As I watched the video, those four officers, they executed my brother,’ he told CNN. ‘They showed no empathy, no compassion.’ 

George Floyd’s death has sparked massive protests in Minneapolis, with some turning to looting and setting fires, as cries for justice arise across the nation.

Philonise Floyd has urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully, though he said he understands the anger surrounding his brother’s death.

‘I can’t stop people right now because they have pain. They have the same pain that I feel. I want everything to be peaceful but I can’t make everybody be peaceful. It’s hard,’ he said.  ‘They treated him worse than they treat animals.’

An autopsy report has not been released in Floyd’s death, but the fire department reported that Floyd had no pulse in the ambulance and was unresponsive. 

Paramedics checked Floyd’s pulse several times and attempted to resuscitate him, according to the incident report

‘They were supposed to be there to serve and to protect and I didn’t see a single one of them lift a finger to do anything to help while he was begging for his life. Not one of them tried to do anything to help him, ‘ Tera Brown, Floyd’s cousin told the network.

‘They need to be charged with murder because what they did was murder,’ Brown continued. ‘And almost the whole world has witnessed that because somebody was gracious enough to record it.’

George Floyd’s sister Bridgett Floyd, meanwhile, told ABC on Wednesday that she also wants the officers arrested, because their firings are ‘definitely not enough justice for me and my family.’

‘I feel those guys need to be put in jail. They murdered my brother,’ she said.

State troopers are called in and Minneapolis Mayor asks for National Guard’s help as city braces for a third night of violence after a looter is killed in George Floyd protests and stores are torched and ransacked

Minneapolis was bracing for a third night of violence Thursday after George Floyd protests in the city turned deadly Wednesday evening. 

State troopers have already been called in and Mayor Jacob Frey asked for the National Guard’s help after one suspected looter was fatally shot and stores were left ransacked and torched by armed vigilantes. 

Shocking images Thursday morning show the widespread destruction left in the wake of the protests over the death of Floyd in police custody on Monday. 

Chaos first erupted Tuesday after footage showed a white police officer knelt on the father-of-two’s neck for eight minutes. By Wednesday stores including Wendy’s, Target, Walmart and AutoZone had been looted, ransacked and some set alight before rioters tried to bust open an ATM. 

Mayor Frey on Thursday asked Governor Tim Walz for the Minnesota National Guard’s assistance ahead of more expected protests this evening. FOX 9 reports up to 60 state troopers are already on the ground. 

The mayor tweeted: ‘Please, Minneapolis, we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy. The area along Lake has become unsafe. We are asking for your help in keeping the peace tonight.’ 

A suspected looter was shot dead outside a pawn shop; Minneapolis Department Police Chief John Elder confirmed the death in a midnight press conference.  

Elder said officers had responded to reports of a possible stabbing at around 9.25pm between Bloomington and Lake Street. The body of a man – who medics later confirmed had been shot – was found lying on the sidewalk outside the Cadillac Pawn shop by police officers who performed CPR on him.  

Videos also showed what was reported to be an apartment building entirely engulfed by flames as rioters stood and watched and the fire department was nowhere to be seen. An AutoZone store was also one of those which was set on fire. 

Outside a GM Tobacco store, a group of four men with huge firearms were seen and said they had come to protect local businesses from looters,

During the riots, a woman in a wheelchair was punched in the head and sprayed with a fire extinguisher after trying to block protesters – allegedly with a knife in her hand. 

Floyd’s family’s lawyer Ben Crump had issued a statement urging protesters to act peacefully on Wednesday night and to not ‘sink to the level of our oppressors’.

‘The community is understandably and rightfully upset by the wrongful death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, and their grief and outrage are pouring out onto the streets of Minneapolis. We share these painful emotions and demand justice, but we also urge everyone who wishes to raise their voice to engage in peaceful protests and observe social distancing,’

‘We cannot sink to the level of our oppressors, and we must not endanger others during this pandemic. We will demand and ultimately force lasting change by shining a light on treatment that is horrific and unacceptable and by winning justice.’ 

Elder said that ‘everything was done that we could do to try to preserve this man’s life’ but the adult male died in hospital. 

The police chief refused to confirm reports that the shooter was the owner of the pawn shop who shot the victim dead because he was looting his store.  

He said this was ‘one theory’ but that police are investigating ‘a couple of different scenarios that might have happened’.

Elder would not divulge what the other scenarios are. He added that there had been no other reports of injuries among protesters or police officers.

The police chief also slammed the actions of looters and rioters which he branded ‘disrespectful’ to Floyd’s family and to all the protesters who gathered peacefully to demand justice over his death. 

‘If people are there to truly honor the man and his family this isn’t how you do it and it’s so disrespectful and it’s heartbreaking,’ he said. 

‘People are utilizing this as a purpose just to make bad decisions.’  

News of the shooting death topped off a night of chaos and destruction across the city as rioters stripped shelves bare, set fire to stores and tried to break into a bank.  

Footage on social media showed car parts company AutoZone up in flames as people were seen hurling rocks through its windows. 

Another structure, said to be a new apartment building, was filmed as flames entirely engulfed it and made it collapse. 

With the fire department initially nowhere to be seen, reports on social media said they were being forced to stay away because of the violent rioters.  

Stores and building near the fire were being splashed with water by citizens in an effort to stop the flames spreading. They were pictured filling buckets from fire hydrants. 

Fire fighters were then seen spraying buildings including the Schooner tavern which had also caught fire. 

At the Target store near the site of Floyd’s arrest, the inside of the store lay in ruins, with stock depleted of all goods and the remaining merchandise flung across the floor.

Witnesses reported thieves using power tools to break open cash registers and trying to access the store’s safes, before it too was set alight and seen engulfed in flames.  

Rioters then turned to a Wendy’s where they sprayed graffiti on the walls before moving onto a bank – trying to bust it open and raid the ATMs.    

A woman in a wheelchair was also punched in the head and sprayed with a fire extinguisher after trying to block protesters – allegedly with a knife in her hand.

The woman claimed she was ‘peacefully protesting’ to stop people from looting a Target store, but she was quickly set upon by a crowd who subdued her. 

The crowd outside the Target store shouted that the woman had a knife, and footage showed her holding what appeared to be a sharp object. 

Named online as Jennifer, she later said she had been ‘punched in the head several times’ before others tried to restrain her.   

Footage of the violent clash has been widely shared on social media, including by conservative writer Andy Ngo. 

A group of four men with huge firearms were seen outside a GM Tobacco store as they said they had come to protect local businesses from looters, reported Minnesota Reformer. 

The vigilantes called themselves ‘heavily armed rednecks’ as they stood guard outside the businesses. 

EXCLUSIVE: A new start turns to a tragic end for George Floyd, who moved to Minneapolis determined to turn his life around after being released from prison in Texas 

George Floyd moved to Minnesota to start a new life shortly after being released from prison in Texas, but his pursuit of a better life ended tragically when he died during a violent arrest, according to court records obtained by DailyMail.com.  

The 46-year-old moved to the city in 2014 and worked as a bouncer at a local restaurant, leaving behind his past in the Houston area. 

Floyd had made changes to his lifestyle and a recent video has emerged of him pleading with younger generations to make good choices and to stop gun violence. 

He had been there himself years ago, first being arrested in his 20s for theft and then a later arrest for armed robbery before he turned his life around.    

The final straw for Floyd came after serving five years in prison in 2009 for aggravated assault stemming from a robbery in 2007 where he entered a woman’s home, pressed a gun into her stomach and searched the home for drugs and money, according to court records.   

Floyd pleaded guilty to the robbery where another suspect posed as a worker for the local water department, wearing a blue uniform in an attempt to gain access to the woman’s home, according to the charging document.

But when the woman opened the door, she realized he was not with the water department and attempted to close the door, leading to a struggle.

At that time, a Ford Explorer pulled up to the home and five other males exited the car and went up to the front door.

The report states the largest of the group, who the victim later identified as Floyd, ‘forced his way inside the residence, placed a pistol against the complainant’s abdomen, and forced her into the living room area of the residence.

‘This large suspect then proceeded to search the residence while another armed suspect guarded the complainant, who was struck in the head and sides by this second armed suspect with his pistol while she screamed for help.’

Not finding any drugs or money at the house, the men took jewelry and the woman’s cell phone and fled in their car. A neighbor who witnessed the robbery took down the car’s license plate number.

Later, police tracked down the car and found Floyd behind the wheel. He was later identified by the woman as the large suspect who placed a gun against her stomach and forced her into her living room, the document states. 

Floyd pleaded guilty to the first degree felony and was sentenced in April 2009 to five years in prison. 

Prior to that, Floyd was sentenced to 10 months in state jail for possession of cocaine. He had been charged in December 2005 for having less than one gram of the controlled substance.

However, a few months later the charge was updated to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, amending the amount Floyd allegedly had to more than four grams of cocaine. 

But according to court records, Floyd was able to have the charge reverted back to possession of cocaine less than a gram.

Floyd had two other cocaine offenses, receiving an eight month-sentence stemming from an October 2002 arrest and was sentenced to 10 months from a 2004 arrest. 

Floyd was arrested in April 2002 for criminal trespassing and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

He did another stint for theft with a firearm in August 1998. He served 10 months at Harris County jail.

In one of the charging documents, officials noted Floyd had two convictions in the 1990s for theft and delivery of a controlled substance, but it is not clear if Floyd served any time for either of those offenses.

After his last arrest in 2007, Floyd moved to Minneapolis in 2014 shortly after his prison release.

Christopher Harris, one of Floyd’s lifelong friends, said Floyd moved to the city to start over to find a job, telling the Atlanta Journal Constitution: ‘He was looking to start over fresh, a new beginning. He was happy with the change he was making.’

Indeed, it seems that Floyd had turned his life around before his death on Monday.

A heartbreaking video emerged online of Floyd encouraging the younger generation to put an end to gun violence.

The undated video was circulated on Twitter on Wednesday as protesters descended on the streets of Minneapolis for a second night calling for the arrest of the cops involved in his death.

Floyd is seen addressing the camera directly as he speaks out about the need for gun violence to end. 

‘It’s clearly the generation after us that’s so lost, man,’ he says before telling them to ‘come home’.