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US-RACE-POLITICS-FLOYD-FUNERAL
George Floyd’s funeral to be held June 9 in Texas
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A funeral for George Floyd, the black
man who died in US police custody after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck,
will be held June 9 in Houston, the family’s lawyer said Monday.
“In Minneapolis, there will be a memorial here Thursday, at 1:00 to 3:00,”
said attorney Ben Crump, speaking at a press conference in Minneapolis to report
the findings of an independent autopsy.
“On Saturday, there will be a memorial service in North Carolina, where he was
born, at 1:00 to 3:00. And then on Tuesday, June the ninth, the funeral will
take place in Houston, Texas at 11:00 am,” said Crump,who is representing the
Floyd family.
George Floyd died on May 27 after a policeman knelt on the 46-year-old man’s
neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd became unresponsive after almost three
minutes.
His death, captured on mobile phone footage, reignited long-felt anger over
police killings of African Americans, and echoed high-profile cases that spurred
the Black Lives Matter movement such as the August 2014 shooting of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the July 2014 choking of Eric Garner in New
York.
Nationwide uproar sparked over police brutality, and protests and rioting —
many that turned violent — erupted in more than 140 cities over the weekend.
Crump announced the results of an autopsy arranged by Floyd’s family that
shows he was suffocated by a Minneapolis police officer rather than dying from
pre-existing heart problems as claimed by the official ruling.
BSS/AFP/MMA/0950HRS