Eric Garner's Mother Shows Up in Minneapolis at Vigil for George Floyd who was also Murdered by
Mrs. Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner who was killed by police in New York in 2014, attended a vigil in support of George Floyd who was killed on Monday in a incident very similar to her son's.
Eric Garner was choked to death by an NYPD police officer outside of a store for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. George Floyd, 46, was choked to death when a Minneapolis officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for nine minutes straight. Floyd died in front of a crowd and begging for his life.
“I feel the pain and hurt from George’s family and my whole heart goes out to them,” said Carr “As I was talking to them, I relived what happened to Eric and tears overwhelmed me.”
The vigil was held at 1 p.m. at World Outreach for Christ Church on 3808 Chicago Ave. by Al Sharpton who was accompanied by Carr.
The movement #WeCantBreathe has taken root in Minneapolis and grown to include people of all races. The horrific death of George Floyd has struck the hearts of Black and White people alike. It was an act of racism that even White American's can't deny.
One woman, Melissa McCrery, took to social media yesterday to call White Americans to the carpet and for them to stand up for what is right. Take a look.
Protests have been going on in Minneapolis for days and they haven't always been peaceful. The city has been set ablaze both emotionally and physically with the overrunning grief of it's African American citizens.
The four officers involved in Floyd's murder, Derek Chauvin (who actually knelt on Floyd's neck, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng have all been fired.
The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is calling for their arrests and for them to be brought up on charges.
Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the police department, has a history of excessive force. According to the Star Tribune,in 2008, Chauvin shot and wounded Ira Latrell Toles during a domestic assault call. According to a 2011 article from the Pioneer Press, Chauvin and other officers showed up to an apartment in south Minneapolis just before 2 a.m. Toles grabbed for an officer’s gun and Chauvin shot him in the abdomen.
In 2006, Chauvin and five others responded to a stabbing. After Wayne Reyes, 42, allegedly pulled a shotgun on the officers, one of the officers shot and killed Reyes, according to a report titled “Stolen Lives” from Communities United Against Police Brutality, a police watchdog nonprofit based in Minneapolis.
The other officer identified in the video is Tou Thao. According to a deposition he gave in a 2017 lawsuit, Thao started with the department as a community service officer. He went through the academy in 2009. He was laid off for two years and returned to the department in 2012.
In 2017, Lamar Ferguson sued Thao and another officer, Robert Thunder, for excessive use of force. According to the lawsuit, Ferguson and a woman who was eight months pregnant were walking home when Thao and Thunder stopped and searched them without cause. The officers handcuffed Ferguson, and Thao threw him to the ground and began punching him, while Thunder kicked him, according to the allegations."
The murder of George Floyd has sparked a revolution. . .we await the outcome.
