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The video of a white police officer leaning with his knee on the mans neck , while he cry saying he can’t breath has generated local and growing protests around the country…
It is 2020 and the racial issue is back in the news in America….
Even after having the ccntries first mixed/black President has not changed things it would appear….
One would think after the Staten Island , NYC Eric Garner situation that things would not happen anymore….
The chaotic scenes followed the death of 46-year-old George Floyd on Monday, which came after a white officer pinned the handcuffed father of two to the pavement outside of a market where employees had called police about a counterfeit bill….
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An evening that started with peaceful protests descended into disarray and looting as the night wore on. A group of officers stood in front of a nearby precinct and tried to disrupt the crowd with flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets. At times, the tear gas was so thick, it wafted down neighborhood streets where people standing in their front yards were coughing and wiping at their eyes.
By 10 p.m., an Auto Zone had caught fire. Soon, other fires erupted, including a massive blaze at a construction site. Meanwhile, one person was shot by a pawn shop owner and died at a hospital, police told the Star Tribune, as looters ransacked a Target, Foot Locker and nearby small businesses.
The chaos that followed Wednesday’s demonstrations prompted stateand local officials to plea for peace
“Please, Minneapolis, we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy,” Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said in a late-night statement. The mayor requested help from the state’s National Guard amid a second night of disruption.
His calls for calm echoed those of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose district covers some of the affected area.
“Violence only begets violence,” she tweeted, urging peaceful protest. “More force is only going to lead to more lives lost and more devastation.”
Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told local media the majority of the protesters remained peaceful, but told Minnesota Public Radio later that night that the display had been “hijacked” by some protesters and those looting and vandalizing businesses.
After police faced stinging criticism for heavy-handed tactics deployed during the first night of protests, critics like City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison were among those who expressed disappointment at the department’s failure to maintain public safety late Wednesday….
Klobuchar defends herself….
Says Grand Jury failed to indict the officer involved in the Floyd case back in the day when his prior case came before her office as DA….
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Andrea Mitchell
@mitchellreports
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@amyklobuchar
: “I have said repeatedly when I was county attorney, cases we had involving officer-involved shootings went to a grand jury-I think that was wrong, now. It would have been much better if I took responsibility & looked at cases & made a decision myself.” #AMRstaff
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Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Friday refused to withdraw her bid to become Joe Biden’s vice president after it emerged that she once failed to get charges brought against the cop involved in George Floyd’s death while serving as a prosecutor in 2006.
Klobuchar is facing mounting scrutiny of her criminal justice record after she failed to get charges brought against Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck as he begged for air, for fatally shooting another man while she was a county attorney.
“Joe Biden’s gonna make a decision on VP and I know he’ll make a good one,” Klobuchar told New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi, according to a series of tweets by Nuzzi on Friday morning.
“Joe Biden will make a good decision on who should be the Vice President and as for the other matters, I think you better get the facts straight,” Klobuchar continued, saying she would address the matter in a TV interview….
More @ NY Post…
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said Friday that it was “absolutely false” that she declined to prosecute Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin during her time as a county attorney.
“This idea that I somehow declined a case — which has been reported on some news blogs and then sent out on the internet — against this officer is absolutely false,” she told NBC News host Andrea Mitchell. “It is a lie. I don’t know what else to say about it.”
Chauvin on Friday was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter for the killing of George Floyd. Klobuchar cheered the charges on Twitter as a “first step toward Justice.”…
More @ TPM….
Update…
An independent autopsy ordered by George Floyd’s family found his death was a “homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain,” ABC News reports.
The medical examiner’s initial findings revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation….
Politicalwire…