Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who triggered protests around the U.S. after he was videotaped pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck, has been arrested.
The world watched as Floyd, unarmed, begged for his life and repeatedly told the officer, “I can’t breathe.”
Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, was arrested after four nights of protests.
On Thursday night, protesters set fire to the Minneapolis 3rd Precinct building and other properties were damaged in Minneapolis and cities around the U.S.
Chauvin is in the custody of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension according to John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Harrington told reporters about Chauvin’s arrest shortly after a news conference Friday.
Four officers including Chauvin have been fired after they responded to Floyd’s arrest on Monday. They identified him as the suspect after someone allegedly wrote a bad check at a Minneapolis grocery store. Harrington only mentioned that one officer had been arrested — no word yet on the other three Minneapolis police officers who have been fired, according to the Star Tribune.
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Protesters looted buildings and lit fires into the early hours Friday before the police created a perimeter around the burned precinct. A CNN reporter and crew were arrested but later released.
Minneapolis residents awoke Friday to fires, billowing smoke, and police lining their streets after another intense night of protests following Floyd’s death, USA Today reported.
Calls have grown for the officers to be arrested.
“I would like those officers to be charged with murder, because that’s exactly what they did,” Bridgett Floyd, George Floyd’s sister, said on NBC TV.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar tweeted about the arrest at 1:15 p.m. Friday, saying, “The first step towards justice.”
