Four cops fired after video shows white officer kneeling on black man's neck

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.

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."

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.

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".

"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."