Yesterday it was revealed that Derek Chauvin, the fired police officer recorded kneeling on 46-year-od George Floyd's neck, had been detained and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
More on Chauvin's arrest below:The 19-year veteran was arrested by the state's bureau of criminal apprehension.
Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman revealed in a statement: "We are in the process of continuing to review the evidence. There may be additional charges later."
Chauvin's wife has also filed for divorce, her attorney has confirmed.
Now, a popular TikTok personality and police officer has condemned Chauvin's actions, and said that all cops will now have to work harder to repair the damage that has been caused.
The officer - who works for the North Little Rock Police Department in Pulaski County, Arkansas - is known on the social media platform as @bakerfivetwo, and boasts over 150,000 followers.
The officer's video can be seen below:In a recent video, he says: "I've been a cop for 23 years, and watching the video of Mr. Floyd be pinned to the ground was one of the worst things I've seen."
He added: "His fellow officers stood there. They did nothing. Y'all took an oath. The same oath that eight hundred thousand of us have taken: to serve and protect our communities. Officers like this tarnish the badge. They tarnish the oath."
Now, officers across the country will have to "work harder to repair those relationships" in their own communities.
"Because it doesn't just affect one community," he explained. "It affects all of them. I hope y'all are charged accordingly."
The video has been viewed over 7.7 million times since being posted on the platform two days ago.
Several other police officers have also spoken out about Floyd's death on social media.
One Tennessee police chief has called for cops to hand in their badges if they agree with what they see in the footage of Floyd's arrest.
Chattanooga Chief of Police David Roddy shared his candid statement on Twitter, writing:
"There is no need to see more video. There no need to wait to see how “it plays out”. There is no need to put a knee on someone’s neck for NINE minutes. There IS a need to DO something. If you wear a badge and you don’t have an issue with this...turn it in."
Since posting the blunt statement on May 27, Chief Roddy's tweet has received over 620,000 likes and has been retweeted more than 159,000 times.
But despite being commended by many Twitter users, one person responded to Chief Roddy's tweet saying: "While I respect your viewpoint, it doesn’t work like that. People won’t resign for doing something they feel is acceptable practice.
"If you want this to stop, it’s up to you to find the people who accept this behavior and get them out of your department."
In addition, Polk County, Georgia, Sheriff Johnny Moats wrote on Facebook:
"I am deeply disturbed by the video of Mr. Floyd being murdered in the street with other officers there letting it go on. I can assure everyone, me or any of my deputies will never treat anyone like that as long as I’m Sheriff. This kind of brutality is terrible and it needs to stop. All Officers involved need to be arrested and charged immediately. Praying for the family."
Per the Guardian, after reviewing the bodycam footage of Floyd's arrest, state charging documents allege that Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for a total of nearly nine minutes.
It also states that the now-former Minneapolis police officer kept his knee on Floyd's neck for two minutes and 43 seconds after Floyd had become non-responsive.
Floyd’s family has since released a statement calling Chauvin's arrest a "welcome but overdue step on the road to justice” and added that members "expected a first-degree murder charge" - which they still demand.
"The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and spilling out on to streets across [the country]," the statement added.
The statement concluded by saying:
"Today, George Floyd's family is having to explain to his children why their father was executed by police on video. It's essential that the City closely examines and changes its policing policies and training procedures to correct for the lack of proper field supervision; the use of appropriate, non-lethal restraint techniques; the ability to recognize medical signs associated with the restriction of airflow, and the legal duty to seek emergency medical care and stop a civil rights violation."
Under Minnesota law, a first-degree murder charge would require prosecutors to prove Chauvin’s actions were willful and premeditated.
In video footage of the arrest, Floyd can be heard pleading for help - repeatedly telling officers that he couldn't breathe. He then became unresponsive while being restrained and was later pronounced dead.
Prior to his death, officers were alerted that a man in his 40s - later identified as 46-year-old George Floyd - had been using a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, CBS reported.
After locating Floyd 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, video footage of the arrest that was captured by a bystander caused uproar across the nation, as it showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck until he became motionless.
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 the white officer presses his knee onto his neck.
Floyd can be heard crying out: "Please, I can't breathe." But despite Floyd's pleads, Chauvin 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 - the man who first publicly identified 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."
Yesterday, riots ensued across the country - in Minnesota, Louisville, New York, and Denver.
In Louisville, Kentucky, seven rioters were shot - with Louisville Metro Police confirming in a statement that at least one of those victims is in a critical condition.
President Trump tweeted last night that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts", writing:
"I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right
"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
He later confirmed that the National Guard had been deployed to Minnesota. He added that Floyd will not have died in vain and asked that people "respect his memory".
On Wednesday, two new videos of Floyd's arrest surfaced, showing the moment cops wrestled him out of a car and onto the ground.
Fox9 News reporter Alex Lehnert shared the first video to Twitter, along with the caption:
The first video can be seen below:"New video sent to us shows the moment George Floyd was removed from his vehicle and handcuffed on 38th and Chicago. Video courtesy of Christopher Belfrey."
In the video above was obtained by Fox9News, and was recorded in a parked car behind the vehicle Floyd was sitting in.
In the footage, two police officers can be seen struggling to remove Floyd from the driver's side of a vehicle.
A second video, captured by the surveillance cameras of a nearby restaurant and later obtained by CBS News, shows part of the altercation between Floyd and the officers on the scene.
The second video can be seen below:The video was later uploaded to Twitter by the account @sn00pdad, who wrote alongside it:
"Video shows what appears to be the start of the confrontation between #GeorgeFloyd and #Minneapolis #police officers. A restaurant's security footage shows cops taking him into custody, but the restaurant owner says it does not show Floyd resisting #Arrest"
CNN reported earlier in the week that four Minneapolis police officers - including Chauvin - had been fired in connection with the case.
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."