Crime

The family of George Floyd — who died after pleading that he couldn’t breathe while a police officer held him down with a knee on his neck — say they want the four Minneapolis officers involved charged with murder.

“They were supposed to be there to serve and to protect and I didn’t see a single one of them lift a finger to do anything to help while he was begging for his life. Not one of them tried to do anything to help him,” Tera Brown, Floyd’s cousin, told CNN’s Don Lemon.

In an emotional interview Tuesday night, Brown and Floyd’s two brothers held up his picture and spoke of a man who “didn’t hurt anybody” and who they described as a “gentle giant.”

“Knowing my brother is to love my brother,” Philonise Floyd said. “They could have tased him, they could have maced him, instead they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and then carried on.”

“They treated him worse than they treat animals,” he said.

Minneapolis police said officers were responding to an alleged forgery Monday evening and were told a person later described as the suspect was sitting on a car. They found Floyd, who at that point was inside a car and police said he “physically resisted” after he got out. Officers handcuffed Floyd, who police said “appeared to be suffering medical distress.” He died at a hospital shortly after, police said.

Video captured by bystanders at the scene of the arrest shows an officer with his knee pressed against the neck of the 46-year-old, who was handcuffed on the pavement, complaining that his body hurt and he couldn’t breathe. Two officers handled the man on the ground while another stood nearby with his eyes on the bystanders as traffic passed.