A white cop from Minnesota is now accused of murder after suffocating an unarmed black man to death. The witnesses nearby were able to capture the gruesome incident on video.
Racist motive
The video was uploaded on Twitter and Facebook and instantly went viral. In the video, it shows an officer pinning down a black man by kneeling on his neck. The victim, identified as George Lopez, can be repeatedly heard saying that he can't breathe.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, the police who arrested Lopez did not use any weapons and they tried to downplay it as a "medical incident". However, a horrifying video showed otherwise, as it showed the white cop killing the black man who was pinned on the ground.
The Minneapolis Police Department, along with a public information officer, used general and vague terms during the press conference. He said that the officers who responded to a call accusing the man of committing forgery happened to be under the influence.
When it came to implicate the suspect, they only described him as a male in his 40s and the terms used by the public information got specific fast. He said that the suspect resisted the arrest and got physical with the officers, and as soon as he was handcuffed, the officers realized that the suspect was suffering medical distress.
Lopez was rushed to the hospital, where he died a few hours later, according to the public information officer. He also emphasized that there were no weapons of any kind used by anyone that was involved in the incident.
The contradicting story
The pubic information officer was not fully briefed about the incident or he left out the part where one of the officers used his knee to pin the man down by his neck.
Lopez can be heard in the video begging to be released since he can't breathe. The officer was caught applying pressure to the neck of the suspect while putting his hands in his own pockets. One person tweeted that they just watched the police kill the man.
Although the public information officer said that Lopez died at the hospital, many believed that it could just be a cover-up to hide the truth that the officer killed Lopez on the spot by suffocating him. There were a lot of bystanders who confronted the officer regarding his use of force and his inhuman tactics.
According to the public information officer, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension or BCA will be conducting an independent investigation and all cameras were on and activated during the crime. He then suggested the department would not have much more to say because it is now under investigation of the BCA.
On May 26, the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweeted that the FBI has joined in on the investigation. Thousands of social media users accused the Minnesota Police Department of killing George Lopez. Some said that he was suffocated, some said that he was chocked to death.
One Twitter user posted screenshots of the badge of another officer who just stood by and allowed his partner to use force and inhumane tactics on Lopez, and people are demanding both officers be charged with murder.
