Our live coverage of the nationwide George Floyd protests has moved here.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore and Los Angeles Police Commission President Eileen Decker agreed to an immediate moratorium on the training and use of carotid restraints on Monday.
A carotid restraint compresses the neck arteries and restricts blood flow to the brain, rendering a person unconscious.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement that the moratorium would be in place “until such time that the Board of Police Commissioners can conduct a detailed review.”
It follows a similar moratorium from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD).
According to the statement, which lists eight use of force policies the department currently uses, “all LASD personnel are prohibited from using chokeholds, strangleholds, and carotid restraints performed with legs, knees, or feet.”
A St. Louis man has been charged with murder in the death of retired St. Louis police officer David Dorn, who was shot during a pawn shop burglary in last week’s protests in the city.
Stephan Cannon, 24, of St. Louis was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said in a statement released on Twitter Sunday.
No bond is allowed for Cannon, Gardner said.
Dorn, 77, was killed when he responded to an alarm at the pawn shop during the early morning hours of June 2, the St. Louis Police Department said last week. The retired officer was providing security for the store.
About 55 businesses in the city were burglarized and had property damage that night, city Police Chief John Hayden told reporters last week.
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A lawyer representing one of the former police officers charged in George Floyd’s death, claims that Floyd was resisting arrest and that his client suggested rolling Floyd over while officer Derek Chauvin was kneeling on his neck.
Earl Gray, attorney for former officer Thomas Lane, described the body camera footage from the scene, which has not been made public.
Gray said that if the public saw the full body camera footage from Lane, “I believe they would have a different opinion.”
“It wasn’t a violent resistance, but it was not a kind of nonresistance that an individual should do when a police officer is arresting him,” Gray said of Floyd.
Lane, 37, had only been on the force for four days when he helped to restrain Floyd, according to his lawyer.
Gray said that Lane “did not want to see the man die” and started to perform CPR on Floyd.
Officers Chauvin, Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were responding to a call about a $20 counterfeit bill on May 25 when they detained Floyd.
Chauvin – who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes – was charged last Wednesday with a new, more serious count of second-degree murder.
Kueng, Thao and Lane were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Gyms across the country are dropping their affiliation with CrossFit over the company’s response to last week’s protests.
Gym owners say they were dismayed by CrossFit’s failure to quickly put out a statement expressing solidarity with protesters or support for black athletes, as dozens of corporations did in the days following George Floyd’s death. Then on Saturday, CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman posted several controversial tweets referencing Floyd’s death and the coronavirus pandemic, sparking outrage online.
That led Reebok and other brand partners to distance themselves from CrossFit. Glassman apologized and walked back the tweets on Sunday.
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he supports “major structural reform” of police departments.
His comments, in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, comes after Frey was met with a chorus of boos on Saturday after telling a group of demonstrators he did not support abolishing the city police department.
Frey said that protesters “called me up and asked me if I was willing right there to commit to getting rid of the police. And I was honest.”
Frey said that people are right to be angry, frustrated and upset right now.
“Let’s be very real here. George Floyd was murdered by one of our police officers, we need to recognize that and acknowledge it. The next step is to harness all of that energy and anger and sadness that we have, and commit to realtime, real reforms,” Frey said.
Frey also said that it’s the system that “inhibits the culture shift from happening” and police unions are standing in the way.
“If the chief or I are prevented from disciplining and terminating officers because of the system that’s in place, that inhibits the culture shift from happening,” Frey said. “We’ve seen it again and again and again, where officers are disciplined or terminated they work their way through the process.”
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council on Sunday announced they intend to defund and dismantle the city’s police department following the police killing of George Floyd.
Council President Lisa Bender spoke to CNN’s Chris Cuomo about what that would really mean.
“What we pledged was to start a year-long conversation with Minneapolis residents to help us reimagine what public safety looks like as we make those short-term fixes that are so clearly needed in our department,” Bender said.
Bender said the pledge was a “long-term commitment” in which the city would need to “build up those systems of public safety as the highest priority, along with getting more accountability in our police department.”
Would someone still respond to 911 calls? “If something is happening there needs to be someone to call. We need to make sure every single person in our community feels safe. But we have a crisis of confidence in our police department,” Bender said.
How would that work? “We’ve looked at every reason that folks call 911. Why are people in Minneapolis calling for help? And we’re starting to pair what’s the right response to those calls. In the short term that helps our police officers focus on the work that they’re trained to do, while we have a better response to people who have a mental health crisis or a physical health crisis,” Bender added.
Policing “isn’t working” for many: “The system of policing isn’t working for a lot of victims of crime. We have thousands of rape kits that have gone untested. We need to improve our response to all kinds of different violations of public safety, because again that trust in the system is so eroded that our community is across the board,” Bender said.
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A crowd of police officers in Philadelphia gathered outside their local union headquarters on Monday to show their support for one of their own – a staff inspector facing assault charges after allegedly beating a college student at an anti-racism protest last week.
Like all criminal defendants, Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna is innocent until proven guilty. But it seemed like the crowd of more than 100 applauding officers already made up their minds, despite viral footage of Bologna hitting the student in the back of the head with a metal baton, sending him to the hospital.
Following the rally, the union that represents Bologna issued a statement, saying it “will not stand-by and watch Inspector Bologna get railroaded.”
As public opinion shifts on issues of police violence and racial discrimination, and cities begin to rethink their approach to law enforcement, powerful police unions across the country are digging in, and preparing for a once-in-a-generation showdown over policing.
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Tennis great Venus Williams posted on Instagram on Monday, saying that, “just as sexism is not only a ‘women’s issue,’ racism is not only a ‘black issue.’”
Williams said that she was “deeply saddened that it has taken multiple acts of police brutality to make people painfully aware of the racism that still pervades America.” But she also said she was “amazed at the solidarity that has erupted across the USA.”
A black man dancing in the street of a Northern California city was pinned to the ground and placed under arrest by police after officers were called to the scene, newly-released officer bodycam video shows.
The incident in Alameda has prompted the city’s police chief to request an independent investigation into the officers’ actions.
What happened: The May 23 arrest occurred after police received a call from a woman who said “an African-American man is dancing in the street and clearly something is wrong with him.”
A series of bodycam videos released on Saturday shows police officers approach the man, identified as Mali Watkins, as he stood next to a sidewalk in a street.
Man is pushed to the ground: Officers question the man, who says he had been dancing as a form of exercise, and as he tries to walk away, police grab his wrists, push him to the ground and handcuff him. He implores a witness, a woman across the street, to record the incident. He repeatedly asks police why they are touching him and refusing to let him go. Police tell him he is resisting arrest.
“Resisting arrest”: City of Alameda spokesperson Sarah Henry said Watkins, who is a city resident, was arrested and cited for resisting arrest. She would not say if the officers have been placed on leave or faced any disciplinary action, citing department policy not to release such information.
Watkins could not be reached for comment. The Alameda District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
The arrest was condemned by the city’s vice mayor, who called for an independent investigation into the incident.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said he wants police across the state to restrict the use of chokeholds in restraining suspects, following large protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Inslee said the Washington State Patrol already tightly regulates the use of chokeholds that restrict a person’s airflow, with limited exceptions when an officer’s life is in danger. He added that he wants all law enforcement agencies to adopt similar rules.
“Possibly there are things where life itself is in danger … but police are going to have to convince us that that’s the situation,” Inslee said.
The governor is calling for independent state investigations of all police misconduct allegations that involve a person being seriously hurt or killed. He also proposes reform allowing police who fail to report misconduct by other officers to be held personally responsible.
At the same time, Inslee said he is not in favor of proposals to dramatically cut law enforcement budgets.
“If some woman’s being domestically abused, they want to get that call answered pronto so that, that can be a police response,” he said. “We don’t want to lose that response.”
Attorney General William Barr said that he understands why some view George Floyd’s death as “manifestations of institutional racism in police departments,” but argued that there’s been great reform already over the past half-century, and that the actions of a few bad officers doesn’t mean there is a systemic problem.
Barr wouldn’t comment on the police reform proposal introduced by congressional Democrats on Monday, saying that he hasn’t reviewed it yet, but said that the Trump administration’s own policing commission would be releasing its own reform proposals “very shortly.” He said he thought there will need to be “strong federal participation” in the broader reform effort to “help set standards.”
The attorney general said that chokeholds should be banned as a police tactic except in cases when police officers are confronted with lethal force. That stance has been backed previously by national policing groups, and stops short of reform put in place in cities across the country in the wake of Floyd’s death, including Minneapolis, to ban the maneuver altogether.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) issued an immediate moratorium on the use of carotid restraints on Monday.
“There will be an immediate moratorium on the use of the LASD carotid restraint in all situations which do not rise to the level of deadly force,” the department said in a statement.
According to the statement, which lists eight use of force policies the department currently uses, “all LASD personnel are prohibited from using chokeholds, strangleholds, and carotid restraints performed with legs, knees, or feet.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday directed police departments in California to stop training officers to use carotid holds, calling the technique “a strangle hold that puts people’s lives at risk.”
The San Diego Police Department and the Sacramento Police Department announced last week they will stop using the restraint effective immediately.
The brothers of George Floyd spoke today in Houston on the eve of his funeral.
They remembered him as a “gentle giant,” a “huge role model,” and “wonderful man, father, human being.”
Philonise Floyd vowed to get justice for his brother.
“We will get justice. We will get it. We will not let this door close,” Philonise Floyd said.
The police chief of Houston, Texas, said calls to “defund the police” as a way of reforming law enforcement are misguided.
“Disbanding the police doesn’t make any sense,” Chief Art Acevedo told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday. “It’s an invitation to chaos.”
Acevedo said he believes activists who are advocating defunding or dismantling police are out of touch with underserved communities who are upset by racism, but still want a safe place to live.
Acevedo said the outrage over Floyd’s death is a real turning point, and he told that to the family.
“There’s a great awakening that this death has caused like I’ve never seen before, and George Floyd’s death will end up leading to systemic change in our country,” Acevedo said. “God used him as a vessel, and they need to really believe that.”
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Today marks the 14th day of protests across the US following the death of George Floyd.
Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as the man begged for his life, had his bail set at $1.25 million during a Monday hearing.
Floyd’s death sparked two weeks of global protests that saw some of the largest crowds yet over the weekend. While the earlier days of unrest included buildings on fire and looting, protests have since remained mostly peaceful.
Here’s what the protests look like around the country:
New York
Atlanta
Los Angeles
New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said his office is investigating why rubber balls were used on protesters in New Orleans on June 3.
Previously, Ferguson said police only used tear gas on protesters, but on Monday said an investigation has shown rubber balls were also used. Ferguson said neither he nor the commanding officer on scene authorized the use of rubber balls.
Ferguson said that in the 22 years that he has been with the department, rubber balls, though a part of their arsenal, have not been used as dispersal method.
Ferguson said they are investigating the incident and communication breakdown.
He added: “This is a dark hour that particular night. But this does not define the citizens of New Orleans, this does not define our police department.”
The police department plans to release more information on the incident and investigation on Tuesday afternoon, according to a department spokesperson.
In the wake of cries for police reform following the killing of George Floyd, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says defunding and dismantling the police force is not “the solution in Atlanta.”
“What people really are crying out for for more dollars to be allocated to social support services and what they see as over-policing,” Bottoms told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “I think it’s going to be incumbent upon people to really dig into municipal budgets which can be a complicated process, but really look at what the cities are doing and the solutions may not always be defunding police as much as making sure that we are allocating funding in our budget for these programs that are so important to our community.”
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council on Sunday announced they intend to defund and dismantle the city’s police department.
President Trump has rejected calls for disbanding police departments and has used the defunding the police campaign to attack Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Biden’s campaign spokesperson said in a statement that the presidential candidate does not support defunding the police.
“That’s been my concern that this would be weaponized against people across this country who are well intentioned,” Bottoms said. “They want better support services for communities. They want less policing and more partnership within our communities, and I think that when you simplify a message it feeds right into Donald Trump’s strong suit. He is able to simplify messages and amplify them as propaganda, but again, I think that’s where it’s incumbent upon us as leaders of good conscience to help articulate and convey to communities when this real work is already happening.”
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Thousands of mourners gathered today at the Fountain of Praise Church in Houston, Texas, to view the body of George Floyd.
Following social distancing guidelines, visitors filed into the church six feet apart and wearing masks. Each person is allowed only a few seconds to pay their respects to Floyd, who lays in a golden casket, shrouded by several bouquets of white flowers.
Many of the visitors wore shirts supporting Black Lives Matter and with Floyd’s last words “I can’t breathe.”
With gospel songs playing in the background from artist including CeCe Winans and Kurt Carr, several mourners wiped away tears as they stopped in front of the casket.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking outside the viewing of Floyd, called his death “the most horrific tragedy” he has ever observed and vowed that his life and death would “change the arc of the future of the United States.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Kevin Hart and rappers Master P and Ludacris were also in attendance. Lawmakers from Ghana paid tribute to Floyd in a taped presentation where Barbara Oteng Gyasi, the Minister of Tourism, unveiled a plaque and mural.
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The United States Conference of Mayors launched a new working group to address “police violence and patterns of racial discrimination,” the group – known as USCM – said in a statement Monday.
The working group – led by the mayors of Chicago, Tampa and Cincinnati – aims to outline specific recommendations on policing practices.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said: “This is about generational discrimination in our communities, and police accountability is a crucial part of the work that needs to be done to address this issue in a holistic manner.”
