Maxine Waters blames Trump for ‘cops killing black people’ and says cop who knelt on George Floyd ‘enjoyed doing it’ – The Sun
REP Maxine Waters has shockingly blamed President Donald Trump for “cops killing black people” — days after George Floyd died in police custody.
Waters, a Democrat from California who frequently launches wild attacks at Trump, told TMZ she thinks the Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin, who was filmed with his neck on Floyd’s knee, “enjoyed doing it.” Trump on Wednesday called the death "very sad and tragic".
Video from Monday night shows Chauvin holding Floyd, a 46-year-old who was suspected of using a forged check at a deli, down with his knee on his neck and his other knee in the middle of his back.
Floyd repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” but Chauvin continued to pin him to the ground.
Minutes later, Floyd went unconscious and Chauvin did not remove his knee until the man was loaded onto a gurney.
Floyd’s cause of death is pending.
After his death, Waters said: “My first thought was, ‘Not again. Not one more killing.’”
“I’m reflecting on all of the killings of young black men in particular, but of course black women too, at the hands of the police and at the hands of these white supremacists.”
“And I’m thinking about the way that the president conducts himself — in a way he’s dog-whistling — and I think that they’re feeling that they can get away with this kind of treatment.”
Trump said he ordered an expedited federal investigation of Floyd's death, and tweeted: "My heart goes out to George's family and friends. Justice will be served!"
The congresswoman continued: “I’m just so sorry about the loss of another life.”
“I think that the officer who had his knee on his neck enjoyed doing what he was doing. I believe sometimes these officers leave home thinking, ‘“’m gonna get me the one today’ — and I think this is his one that he got today.”
Waters said the officer “didn’t care whether or not anyone was photographing him,” and that “he did what he was doing and the officers stood there and watched him.”
She said all of the officers are “just as guilty” as Chauvin, and said she’s “glad that all of them were fired.”
“If in fact you have subdued a suspect and you’re not in any danger at all — and handcuffs are on him — there’s no reason for police to do what these police did,” Waters said.
“They don’t even mention in the report that the knee was on the neck of George Floyd.”
Waters said taking photos and video of incidents between black people and police officers, “citizens are doing the best job that could do,” considering cops “would say to shoot you if you interfere with an arrest.”
“So it’s dangerous,” she said. “They’re showing what is taking place and what we’re finding is that the justice system does not work because the justice system will find a way to protect those officers in most cases.”
“They will find justifiable homicide — and that’s what we’ve got to deal with. You’ve got to deal with the fact that we’re in America with a justice system that does not work for everybody.”
Chauvin and three other police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest and subsequent death were fired, and Mayor Jacob Frey announced them as “the right call.”
“Being Black in America should not be a death sentence,” Frey wrote online. “For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a Black man’s neck. Five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you’re supposed to help.”
He said of Chauvin: “This officer failed in the most basic, human sense.”
Floyd’s death is the latest in a string of racial events around the US, including the death of Ahmaud Arbery, 25.
Arbery was jogging in Georgia in February when a white man and his son pursued him and allegedly killed him.
Earlier this week, a white woman named Amy Cooper called the police on a black birdwatcher, Christian Cooper, after he asked her to put her dog on a leash.
In a video the birdwatcher filmed of the incident, Amy Cooper said: “I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life.”
Source: Read Full Article