George Floyd

George Floyd October 14 1973 May 25 2020 was an African American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis Minnesota during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit twentydollar bill One of four police officers who arrived on the scene knelt on Floyds neck and back for almost ten minutes fatally asphyxiating him After his murder a series of protests against police brutality especially towards African Americans quickly spread nationally and then globally Floyd was born in Fayetteville North Carolina and grew up in Houston Texas playing football and basketball throughout high school and college Between 1997 and 2005 he was convicted of eight crimes He served four years in prison after accepting a plea bargain for a 2007 aggravated robbery in a home invasion After he was paroled in 2013 he served as a mentor in his Christian community and posted antiviolence videos to social media In 2014 he moved to the Minneapolis area residing in the nearby suburb of St Louis Park and worked as a truck driver and bouncer In 2020 he lost both jobs during the COVID19 pandemic After his murder the City of Minneapolis settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyds family for 27 million Chauvin was convicted on two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to 22 12 years in prison The other three officers at the scene were also later convicted of violating Floyds civil rights