Floyd Killing Report: Minneapolis Cops Use Excessive & Brutal Force, Target Minorities

By Staff, Agencies

After a two-year investigation prompted by the police killing of George Floyd, the US so-called “Justice Department” announced that Police in Minneapolis routinely use excessive force and discriminate against Black and Native American people.

The city has agreed to what will likely be years of federal oversight as it works to reform the Minneapolis Police Department, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the findings.

The scathing 89-page report vindicated long-standing community complaints of rampant abuse by the police force that predated Floyd’s murder by white former police officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.

“We found that the Minneapolis Police Department routinely uses excessive force, often when no force is necessary, including unjust deadly force and unreasonable use of Tasers,” Garland said at a press conference at the city's federal courthouse.

The report found that officers frequently violated residents' constitutional rights. They used potentially deadly neck restraints, since banned by the city, and shot at people in situations where there was no immediate threat.

Other findings included officers frequently failing to intervene when they saw colleagues using excessive force, discriminating against people with behavioral health disabilities and unconstitutionally retaliating against protesters and journalists.

“We observed many MPD officers who did their difficult work with professionalism, courage and respect, but the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible,” Garland said at the press conference with Mayor Jacob Frey and other city officials.

Floyd’s murder in May 2020, captured in a bystander’s cellphone video, sparked nationwide protests decrying police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. In Minneapolis, protesters damaged property, including a police precinct house that was set ablaze.

Many in Minneapolis complained Chauvin’s excessive use of force against Floyd was not an exceptional case, but rather a commonplace practice of the city’s police officers abusing the rights of Black residents.

Garland said the investigation found that there were several incidents in which city police officers “were not held accountable for racist conduct” until there was a public outcry.

US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, released a statement calling the report’s findings disturbing. He repeated his call for Congress to pass reforms “that increase public trust, combat racial discrimination and thereby strengthen public safety.”