President Donald Trump on Friday said that he had spoken with family members of George Floyd, a man whose death in Minneapolis sparked outrage and protests across the nation.
At a White House roundtable discussion with industry executives on reopening the country, Trump expressed condolences over the death of Floyd.
“I want to express our nations deepest condolences and most heartfelt sympathies to the family of George Floyd,” Trump said. “Terrible event, terrible terrible thing that happened.”
“Its a terrible thing. We all saw what we saw. And its very hard to even conceive of anything other than what we did see,” he added. “It should never happen—it should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that. But were determined that justice be served.”
Trump said that he “spoke to members of the family, terrific people.”
He later told reporters, “I just expressed my sorrow [to the family]. That was a horrible thing to witness. And Ive seen many bad things. That was just a horrible thing to witness and to watch.”
Referring to the video footage of how a policeman pinned Floyd down to the ground, Trump said: “[Floyd] was in tremendous pain obviously, and couldnt breathe, it was very obvious, anybody that watched it. It was a very sad thing for me to see that.”
“We also know that most policemen, we see a great job they do, they do a fantastic job, but this was a terrible insult to police and policemen,” Trump added. “I know the Justice Department is also looking at it very strongly.”
The president said that he has asked the Department of Justice to expedite an investigation into Floyds death.
He said the government continues to support the rights of peaceful protesters but “cannot allow a situation like [what] happened in Minneapolis to descend further into lawless anarchy and chaos.”
“Its very important, I believe, to the family, to everybody, that the memory of George Floyd be a perfect memory—let it be a perfect memory—the looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of so many peaceful protesters,” Trump said.
“The family of George is entitled to justice and the people of Minnesota are entitled to live in safety,” Trump said. “Law and order will prevail, the Americans will honor the memory of George and the Floyd family.”
“Its very important to me to see that everything is taken care of carefully, its a horrible, horrible situation.”
Floyd died in Minnesota on Monday while in police custody at the citys Third Police Precinct. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit bill at a store.
Disturbing video footage on the day showed a police officer using his knee on Floyds neck to pin him to the ground. Floyd, who was unarmed and handcuffed, pleaded to the officers while repeatedly calling out “I cant breathe” during the episode.
Minneapolis Police said in a statement on Tuesday that officers were responding to a report of forgery when the suspect “physically resisted officers.” According to the statement, Floyd died after “suffering medical distress.”
Derek Chauvin, the officer who pinned down Floyd, was fired on Tuesday, along with another three officers involved in Floyds arrest—Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng. On Friday, Chauvin was arrested and charged with thirRead More From Source
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