Unrest continues to unfold across the US, as protests - some peaceful, some violent - are calling out the systemic injustices carried out against black people, not least seen by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
Now, footage has emerged of a police officer comforting a young black girl after she asked him if he was "going to shoot her".
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In the instances where the protests have turned violent, police have been seen on camera continuing to use the knee-to-neck technique, firing at news reporters, and using non-lethal projectiles - AKA rubber bullets - to disperse crowds.
Now, heartbreaking footage of a five-year-old girl protesting in Houston, Texas, has emerged showing her asking a police officer if he is going to shoot her.
The girl, later identified as Simone Bartee, caught the attention of a police officer at the protest when she began to cry, and she asked him: "Are you gonna shoot us?"
The officer then knelt down, put his arm around the child, and comforted her.
The footage was shared to Twitter by the girl's father, who uses the Twitter handle @iamsimeonb.
Simeon wrote: "During the protest in Houston yesterday one of the police officers noticed my daughter crying. She asked him 'Are you gonna shoot us' he got down on one knee wrapped his arm around her and responded:"
The officer then calmly says to five-year-old Simone: "We're here to protect you, okay? We're not here to hurt you at all. You can protest, you can party, you can do whatever you want - just don't break nothing."
In the clip, Simone can be seen nodding as she takes in the officer's words.
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As well as a call for justice, these ongoing protests are also demanding an end to police brutality and the racism that is so deeply entrenched in America and the western world.
The message is simple: Black lives matter.
VT proudly supports Black Lives Matter, and for ways to contribute to the cause, please click HERE.
Unrest continues to unfold across the US, as protests - some peaceful, some violent - have erupted calling out the systemic injustices carried out against black people, not least seen by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
But with there currently being such an explosive relationship between the black community and police officers, one can only imagine how difficult it must be for black cops currently serving to protect our streets.
One incident that has been brought to public attention allegedly occurred on Sunday near a parking garage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Video footage shows the moment a female black police officer verbally scolds her colleague for aggressively throwing a kneeling protester to the ground.
Another angle of the incident can be seen below, and was captured by Twitter user @_popaboywillie, who captioned the video to his followers: "White police officer throws a girl who is already on her hands and knees BUT a BLACK QUEEN officer steps in to check him."
The footage was shared to Twitter on June 1, and has since received over 450,000 likes and more than 155,000 retweets (as of this writing).
In the footage, Officer Steven Pohorence can be seen walking through a crowd of protesters when an African American woman drops to her knees in front of him.
Pohorence then grabs the woman by the back of her head and shoves her forward as he walked by. The female police officer, later identified as Krystle Smith, then immediately begins screaming at Pohorence and shoves him past several police officers.
According to WPLG Local 10, the protest, which was largely peaceful until then, became aggressive, as protesters started to throw bottles and other debris at the officers.
Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione praised Smith for her actions in deescalating the situation, telling reporters Monday:
"She did what you are supposed to do: When you see either adrenaline or emotion or some kind of interaction going south … that is our job to do, is intervene."
The Fort Lauderdale police declined to make Smith available for an interview, but did reveal that Officer Pohorence had been suspended.
Per ABC News affiliate WEAR-TV, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis says he feels that Poherence's actions were "offensive", and he's happy the department has suspended him.
"I thought that was something that should have never happened," the mayor said.
The ongoing protests were ignited following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd on May 25, following his arrest by four Minneapolis police officers.
Yesterday, it was revealed that the three former police officers who accompanied Derek Chauvin as he retrained the late Floyd are to be charged in connection with the 46-year-old African-American's death.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar announced plans to charge ex-Minneapolis cops Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng.
Klobuchar tweeted:
"Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is increasing charges against Derek Chauvin to 2nd degree in George Floyd’s murder and also charging other 3 officers. This is another important step for justice."
Details of any charges the former cops are set to face yet to be announced, and it is unclear whether those three officers will be charged with the same offense(s).
As well as a call for justice, these ongoing protests are also demanding an end to police brutality and the racism that is so deeply entrenched in America and the western world.
The message is simple: Black lives matter.
VT proudly supports Black Lives Matter, and for ways to contribute to the cause, please click HERE.
Yesterday, we reported that the FBI was investigating the death of a black man after a white police officer was recorded kneeling on his neck "for five minutes" during an arrest.
Today, per CNN, it has been revealed that four Minneapolis police officers have been fired in connection with the case.
Protestors gather outside the house of one of the officers:
The incident took place on Monday when officers were alerted that a man in his 40s - who has since been identified as 46-year-old George Floyd - was under the influence, CBS reported.
After locating the man in his car, the two officers said he "physically resisted" arrested.
A Minneapolis police spokesman said in a news briefing early on Tuesday: "Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and realized that the suspect was suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died a short time later."
However, footage of the incident captured by a bystander was later circulated on social media, causing uproar across the nation.
The woman who captured the footage, Darnella Frazier, wrote on Facebook: "They killed him right in front of cup foods over south on 38th and Chicago!! No type of sympathy #POLICEBRUTALITY."
*We will not be sharing the video, but it can be found on Miss Frazier's Facebook page HERE*
The footage shows Floyd being restrained on the ground and handcuffed, as a white officer presses his knee onto his neck.
Floyd can then be heard crying out: "Please, I can't breathe." Despite Floyd's pleads, the officer did not move. Another officer can be seen watching on without intervening.
As he continues, a passerby screams, "That's bulls**t, bro. You're stopping his breathing right there, bro. Get him off the ground, bro," adding that the officer was "enjoying it".
Floyd then becomes motionless.
After several minutes, paramedics arrived on the scene, but George Floyd was sadly pronounced dead later that day.
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Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump - who identified the man as George Floyd - confirmed in a statement that he was representing his family. Crump added:
"We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck.
"This abusive, excessive, and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge."
On Tuesday evening, protesters - many of them wearing face masks - held "I can't breathe" signs and chanted together near the site of Monday's incident. Several motorists drove by, honking their horns in support.
Later in the evening, police attempted to disperse the crowds outside the Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct after a glass window was smashed, John Elder, director of the office of public information for the police department, told CNN.
Police spokesperson Officer Garrett Parten has since confirmed that the four officers involved in Floyd's arrest have been "separated from employment".
In a statement about police Chief Medaria Arradondo's decision to fire the officers, Mayor Jacob Frey said:
"I support your decisions, one hundred percent. It is the right decision for our city. The right decision for our community, it is the right decision for the Minneapolis Police Department."
In a press conference early on Tuesday, Frey offered his condolences to Floyd's family, adding that "what we saw [in the video] was horrible, completely and utterly messed up".
Watch Mayor Jacob Frey's emotional response below:
"For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man," Frey told reporters.
"When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense. What happened on Chicago and 38th this last night is simply awful. It was traumatic and it serves as a clear reminder of just how far we have to go."
"Being black in America," Frey said, should not be "a death sentence."
In a statement to KARE, Minneapolis City Councilwoman Andrea Jenkins said: "Our community continues to be traumatized again, and again and again. We must demand answers."
A woman has filmed the incredible moment several cars pulled up to make sure a Black woman was safe after she was stopped by police.
The incident took place on a road near St Louis, according to the TikTkok user who filmed it, and saw multiple cars pull up to make sure that Missouri police interacted appropriately with the Black woman.
"When I see a young African American woman screaming for help, and it's three to four White Police with guns drawn on her, and she's unarmed, you damn right I'm showing up and showing out until I find out what its [sic] all about," TikTok user @sheniweird said in the caption and voiceover.
"We need answers every time. She deserves the same respect homegrown terrorists got. You're not just gone shoot her over a traffic violation [sic]. Not today."
The footage shows the woman getting out of her car to investigate what is happening at the scene, and it's at this point that a white motorist gives her a thumbs up to tell her that everything is okay.
"When I pulled over, everyone pulled over," she says via a voiceover.
The video was met with hundreds of messages of praise in the comments section from TikTok users commending the woman's actions.
Alongside a heart emoji, one wrote: "I got chills from this the fact that so many people pulled over [sic]."
Credit: TikTok
A second added: "Yes! They've continued to show [they're] not honorable! We have to watch them!"
Credit: TikTok
A third wrote: "Every single person that pulled over did the right thing. They may have saved her life."
Credit: TikTok
As per the Daily Dot, police accountability remains a hot topic in the state ever since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
He was fatally shot by police in 2014 after being stopped while walking down the street - an event that led to the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement, the BBC reports.
Missouri is also currently deliberating a measure which critics claim will reduce accountability for police departments, KY3 News reports.
This measure will, for example, prohibit decreasing the budget for a policing agency by more than 12% when many other states are defunding the police to invest in other areas like mental health.
Newly released bodycam footage shows Fort Lauderdale police officers laughing after hitting Black Lives Matter protestors with rubber bullets at a May 31st rally following the death of George Floyd.
Detective Zachary Baro, leader of a Fort Lauderdale SWAT team unit, said "Beat it, little f***er" after officers shot the rubber bullets at a protestor.
The Miami Herald reports that the protestor in question was walking away after throwing a tear gas canister back at the line of police.
Another officer, Jamie Chatman, approached Detective Baro behind the line of police to ask if his body camera was switched off, and he incorrectly said that it was in "standby mode" and not recording.
In response, the officers began to laugh and joke about the protestors they had just shot.
"Did you see me f**k up those motherf****rs?" one of the officers said.
"I got the one f***er," the other replied, laughing.
George Kirkham, a former police officer, and professor emeritus at Florida State University, condemned the officers' behavior.
"This is serious misconduct. This is people with badges acting like thugs," Kirkham said. "It's like a cancer. If you let it go, it will spread."
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When asked for a comment by the Miami Herald, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale police said the department would have to review the bodycam footage.
This comes as unrest continues to unfold across the US, as protests - some peaceful, some violent - are calling out the systemic injustices carried out against black people, not least seen by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
As well as a call for justice, these ongoing protests are also demanding an end to police brutality and the racism that is so deeply entrenched in America and the western world.
The message is simple: Black lives matter.
VT proudly supports Black Lives Matter, and for ways to contribute to the cause, please click HERE.
A six-year-old girl was filmed begging for help as she was arrested by Orlando police and had her wrists zip-tied.
The incident took place in September when Kaia Rolle, six, was arrested for battery after she was reported for throwing a tantrum and kicking a teacher. After being successfully apprehended, she was transported by police to a juvenile center.
In the bodycam footage, Kaia can be heard asking an officer with zip ties: "What are those for?" and police officer Dennis Turner responds: "They're for you."
The ties are then put onto the six-year-old's hands by a second, unidentified officer, and she bursts into tears.
Kaia then begs the officers not to harm her and cries: "Help me. Help me, please!" Then, as she is directed to the police car, she says: "I don't want to go in a police car."
In response to this, the second police officer says: "You don't want to? You have to." The six-year-old then pleads: "Please, give me a second chance."
Turner was later fired for failing to get the permission of a watch commander to arrest a minor below the age of 12.
This black man was arrested by a white cop for eating a sandwich on a train platform:
The footage shows the child being lifted into the back seat of the police car. A belt is put around her before the officer returns to the school to talk to administrators, who are visibly dismayed by what has happened.
Turner explains to them that the juvenile detention center is "not like you think". He adds that he has made more than 6,000 arrests, one of which was of a seven-year-old.
Employees at the school then tell Turner that Kaia is six, not eight like he had thought, and in response, he says: "Now she has broken the record."
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The six-year-old's grandmother, Meralyn Kirkland, has since spoken out in her defense, explaining that Kaia's violent temper is a side effect of a medical condition that causes an individual's breathing to start and stop when they sleep - sleep apnoea.
Those with the condition are often tired and irritable during the day and suffer from headaches and mood swings.
Kaia's mugshot and fingerprints were taken before she was released.
Per the Mirror, Meralyn told WKMG: "How do you do that to a six-year-old child and because she kicked somebody? A literal mugshot of a six-year-old girl."
An internal investigation has now been launched into the incident, per the Metro.
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