Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the former California attorney general and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling on prosecutors to charge a Minneapolis police officer in the death of George Floyd.
“Yesterday’s protests in Los Angeles and Minneapolis make it clear that people are rightfully hurting over George Floyd’s death. We need swift accountability. The officer who killed George Floyd must be arrested for murder and every officer involved must be held accountable,” Harris tweeted Thursday.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, died Monday while being restrained by four police officers who were responding to a call about a counterfeit $20 bill. One of the officers kept his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck as he complained about not being able to breath and then became unresponsive.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has also called for charges against the officer, who has not been publicly identified.
The city’s police chief, Medaria Arradondo, announced that all four officers involved in Floyd’s death were fired.
A video of the Floyd’s death has provoked outrage and protests across the country. Demonstrations in Minneapolis turned violent on Wednesday and Thursday as people set buildings on fire and looted stores.
There were also protests in Los Angeles and Memphis.
The Justice Department announced Thursday morning that it would investigate Floyd’s death as a “top priority.”
Harris on Wednesday called Floyd’s death a “public execution” and demanded a “federal investigation into civil rights abuses.”
“Throughout our country we’ve historically seen racism and structural racism influence the way laws of America are enforced,” she said during a Univision interview that she posted on her Twitter account.
Harris said Floyd died “needlessly” under “the knee of someone who was using force that was unnecessary.”
She accused the officer of “torture” said pointed out that Floyd was “begging to be able to breath.”
“He was executed, it was a public execution,” she said.