Grieving family of George Floyd reveal they saw brutal video of black man’s deadly arrest BEFORE realizing it was him – The Sun
TWO of George Floyd's cousins have revealed they watched his disturbing arrest footage on television before realizing it was their "baby cousin".
Shareeduh Tate and Tera Brown broke their silence on Tuesday in an interview with TMX.news, in which the women describe the horrific moment they learned of their cousin's death in Minnesota.
"I actually saw it before knowing it was my cousin – I saw it on Gayle King," said Tate.
"And I remember thinking how devastating this would be for the family who have lost their family member like this…then about five minutes after that I got a phone call saying that it was my cousin."
Brown said she had watched the harrowing video on Tuesday morning.
"It is unbelievable to see someone suffer in the way he did, and to see so many people arounds, basically asking for him to live," she said.
Brown described Floyd as "the cousin that everybody loved" and a "jokester" father who "was very talented in his many ways."
The family's revelation came hours after four police officers were fired hours after the disturbing viral video showed a cop kneeling on Floyd's neck before he choked to death on the pavement.
Minneapolis Police Chief Rondo Arredondo made the announcement Tuesday that the cops are now "former employees" after Floyd's Monday night death, WCCO reported.
The officers have not yet been identified.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the incident is "wrong on every level" and praised the police department on making "the right call," the news outlet reported.
"When Mayor Frey appointed me as chief of the Minneapolis police department, I was very steadfast and strong on what our department vision, values and culture change would be moving forward. One of those pillars is sanctity of life," Arredondo said at a news conference on Tuesday
"We know there are inherent dangers in the profession of policing but the vast majority of the work we do never require the use of force."
Ben Crump, the attorney for Floyd's family, has demanded the cops face murder charges over the killing.
He compared the similarities of Floyd's death to Eric Garner, who died in a similar fashion in 2014 after cops in New York City placed him in a chokehold as he pleaded for his life.
Parallels have already been drawn between the deaths of the two black men, but Crump said Floyd's is "worse" because he was held down for eight minutes.
Outrage rippled throughout social media as hundreds of demonstrators flooded the streets of Minneapolis on Tuesday evening in protest of Floyd's death.
NBA superstar LeBron James commented on the incident in an Instagram photo featuring a screen grab of the arrest video alongside a kneeling Colin Kaepernick.
"Do you understand NOW!!??!!?? Or is it still blurred to you?? #staywoke," the caption reads.
Do you understand NOW!!??!!?? Or is it still blurred to you?? ??♂️ #StayWoke?
A post shared byLeBron James (@kingjames) on
In a statement released on Twitter, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar called for accountability, saying: "Justice must be served for this man and his family."
"We heard his repeated calls for help. We heard him say over and over again that he could not breathe. And now we have seen yet another horrifying and gutwrenching (sic) instance of an African-American man dying," she said Tuesday morning.
"Justice must be served for this man and his family, justice must be served for our community, and justice must be served for our country."
The FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have launched a probe into Floyd's death.
Floyd's arrest happened on Monday night in Minneapolis at around 8pm after cops received a call about a man using a forged document.
Officers arrived to find a man believed to be in his 40s who appeared to be "under the influence" sitting on top of a blue car, the Minneapolis Police Department said on Tuesday in a press release.
Cops then tried to arrest the man, who initially resisted but was eventually cuffed, according to the release.
That's when officers noticed that "the man was going into medical distress" and called for an ambulance.
The man was then rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he later died.
A video later emerged on social media showing a police officer with his knee on a man's neck, holding him to the ground.
On Tuesday, the footage was confirmed to be of Floyd.
In the video – which was originally posted to Facebook by Darnella Frazier – Floyd says that he cannot breathe multiple times.
"I cannot breathe! I cannot breathe!” the man yells. "Don’t kill me!"
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