Man Dies After Being Detained by Minneapolis Police, FBI Investigating
(Warning: Disturbing Video. The FBI has joined in the investigation after a man died after being detained by Minneapolis police officers. Video credit Darnella Frazier via Storyful)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A man died Monday night after pleading with Minneapolis police officers that he could not breathe while he was being detained. The FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating the incident.
Shortly after 8 p.m., officers responded to the 3700 block of Chicago Avenue South on a report of a forgery in progress, according to a news release from the Minneapolis Police Department.
Once on scene, they found a man believed to be in his 40s who appeared to be “under the influence” sitting in his car, according to police. Officers ordered him to get out of the car and when he did, police said he started to resist the responding officers.
Police said officers were able to get the man into handcuffs and noted the man “appeared to be suffering medical distress.”
A video taken by a bystander shows one of the officers holding the man down on the ground, pressing his knee into the man’s neck as the man repeats that he cannot breathe.
“Please,” the man can be heard saying. “Please, please I can’t breathe.”
It goes on for several minutes, with bystanders begging the officers to let the man up.
The man eventually loses consciousness, at which point the bystanders start calling for the officers to check his pulse. However, the officer continues to hold his knee to the back of the man’s neck until an ambulance arrives.
The man was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died a short time later.
Darnella Frazier, the bystander who shot the video, told Storyful she was walking to the shops when she saw officers restraining the man. She said he was crying and complaining about how he could not breathe, so she pulled out her phone and started recording.
“A lady that claimed to be a firefighter demanded them to check his pulse and they completely ignored her and was very rude to her,” Frazier said. “Eventually he stopped talking and went silent. That’s when he looked dead. It looked as if he was running out of energy and time, and eventually slowly was dying. I’ve seen police be aggressive but never kill someone in front of me.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo addressed the incident at a press conference Tuesday morning. The mayor appeared visibly upset by what he saw in the bystander video, calling the incident “completely and utterly messed up.”
“For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee into the neck of a black man. For five minutes,” Frey said. “When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense.”
Arradondo said he asked the FBI to investigate whether a possible civil rights violation led to the man’s death. The officers were wearing body cameras, which were on and activated during the incident.
The police chief said the officers have been placed on relief of duty status, which means they are being paid, but they have no law enforcement duties or responsibilities pending the outcome of the investigation.
Arradondo said the police department will also conduct an internal investigation into the officers’ use of force in the incident.
A protest is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Frey said he supports peoples’ right to protest and have their voices heard, but in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he urges everyone to do so in a safe manner by practicing physical distancing and wearing a mask.
