George Floyd: Charge policemen with murder – Family of black man killed in US

The family of George Floyd, a black man who died while a police officer pinned his neck with a knee, wants the four Minneapolis police officers involved charged with murder.

According to CNN, the family said the cops treated their late sibling “worse” than animals.

“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,” said Tera Brown, Floyd’s cousin.

“Knowing my brother is to love my brother. 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,” Philonise Floyd said.

The four officers were sacked on Tuesday after a video of the incident surfaced online.

In the video filmed by a bystander, a shirtless Floyd – thought to be in his 40s – is pinned on the ground by a white officer who kneels on his neck for more than five minutes.

“Your knee in my neck. I can’t breathe… Mama. Mama,” Floyd pleaded.

Floyd slowly grew silent and motionless, unable to move even as the officers taunted him to “get up and get in the car.”

He was taken to hospital where he was later declared dead.

After firing the four officers involved, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey expressed outrage as calls rose for them to be prosecuted for murder.

“What I saw was wrong at every level,” he said of the video.

“For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee into the neck of a black man,” Frey added.

“Being black in America should not be a death sentence.”