The tension does not drop in Minneapolis and in dozens of other cities in the United States, a week after the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a police officer during his arrest. This weekend, hundreds of thousands of Americans demonstrated against police brutality and racism.
Derek Chauvin, the police officer directly involved in the death of George Floyd, was sacked on May 26. On Friday, he was charged with "3rd degree murder" (manslaughter) and "cruel and dangerous act causing death". George Floyd's family is demanding justice. We take stock of the most emblematic precedents in the United States, and their legal consequences.
Atatiana Jefferson
Facts. The case begins with a call to the police on October 12, 2019 in Forth Worth. A man worries that the door of his neighbor, Atatiana Jefferson, 28, has been open for several hours. Two police officers are immediately dispatched on the spot.
Hearing a noise in the garden, Atatiana Jefferson, who was playing video games with her eight-year-old nephew, approaches the window. Seeing the young woman, one of the two police officers, Aaron Dean, opens fire. Atatiana Jefferson did not survive her injuries.
Put your sound on. #AtatianaJefferson was shot in 0.6 seconds.
A neighbor called policr because her door was open. They never knocked on the door. Never called.
They quietly open the fence to her backyard, never announce themselves, and shoot her through her bedroom window. pic.twitter.com/odNXB3vQFN
Suites. Two days after the fact, Aaron Dean resigns. In the process, he was arrested, charged with murder and imprisoned.
Michael Brown
Facts. On August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, in the suburbs of Saint-Louis (Missouri), 18-year-old Michael Brown, suspected of having stolen a box of cigarillos, was shot six times, including two in the head, by the police officer white Darren Wilson, 28. The agent claims to have acted in self-defense. But several witnesses say that Michael Brown was only walking on the street and had an argument with the police.
Suites. Darren Wilson was removed from office, but was not prosecuted on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence. A year after the tragedy, he confided to the New Yorker that he lived in hiding and that he was still seeking a new police station, without success.
Philando Castile
Facts. During a roadside check in Minnesota on July 6, 2016, Philando Castile, a 32-year-old canteen worker, was shot dead by a 28-year-old police officer, who said he feared for his safety. The footage, which took place under the eyes of the victim's partner and a young girl, was filmed live.
Suites. On June 16, 2017, after approximately 30 hours of deliberations, police officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of counts of manslaughter, but also of endangering the partner of Philando Castile and his daughter.
Alton sterling
Facts. Called anonymously by a person claiming to be threatened by an armed man, police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, arrested on July 5, 2016 Alton Sterling, a street vendor. While it is tackled to the ground by two officers, several detonations are heard. Alton Sterling collapses and dies on the spot.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Suites. On March 27, 2018, the Louisiana State Attorney General announced that the two police officers implicated in the Alton Sterling death will not be prosecuted. In his 34-page report exonerating the officers, the prosecutor insisted that the victim had resisted his arrest and that he had a gun slipped in his pocket.
Freddie gray
Facts. Placed on the ground during his arrest on April 12, 2015 in Baltimore (Maryland), Freddie Gray, 25, suffered, in circumstances that have never been clearly established, a fracture of the cervical vertebrae. He died of his injuries a week later.
Suites. Six police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray are suspended the day after the events. At the end of June 2016, the Baltimore prosecutor announced that the charges against the six agents had been dropped. A year later, the United States Department of Justice said it would not initiate federal proceedings either, ending the last hopes of Freddie Gray's family to have these police officers convicted.
Walter Scott
Facts. On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott, 50, tried to flee a traffic stop in Charleston, South Carolina, when he was caught by a white police officer. After being hit with a taser, Walter Scott manages to extricate himself, before being shot five times. A scene filmed by a passerby.
#WalterScott, shot 8 times in the back by North Charleston police. America. Graphic. pic.twitter.com/m2DEp5k56u
- deray (@deray) April 7, 2015Suites. Three days after the incident, Michael Slager is arrested and charged with murder. After pleading guilty, the ex-police officer was sentenced to twenty years in prison on December 7, 2017. In addition, the city of Charleston paid, in October 2015, the sum of $ 6.5 million (or 5.7 million euros) of damages to the family.
Tamir Rice
Facts. On November 22, 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice plays with a fake pistol in a park in Cleveland, Ohio. Alerted by a passerby worried to see him point his pistol around him, the police decided to arrest him. Barely out of his vehicle, agent Timothy Loehmann shoots twice: Tamir Rice dies the next day. "It is probably a fake," said the call to the police. A sentence which would not have been transmitted to the two police officers on patrol.
Suites. The police officer implicated in the boy's death will never be prosecuted, the prosecutor arguing that "it would be unreasonable and irresponsible for the law to require a police officer to wait to verify that a weapon is real". The city of Cleveland, on the other hand, is condemned to pay 6 million dollars (5.4 million euros) to the family of Tamir Rice.
Eric Garner
Facts. Eric Garner, an obese and asthmatic street vendor of cigarettes, was arrested on July 17, 2014 by several white police officers on Staten Island, in New York. Placed on the ground after trying to resist, he said eleven times that he "cannot breathe", before succumbing to heart trouble. On a video, we can clearly see an agent tightening his neck.
Suites. On December 3, 2014, an American grand jury decided not to prosecute the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner, Daniel Pantaleo. In July 2015, the City of New York concluded a financial agreement with the family of Eric Garner, for an amount of 5.9 million dollars (5.3 million euros).
Trayvon Martin
Facts. On February 26, 2012, during a patrol, George Zimmerman, vigilante on a property in Sanford (Florida), shoots Trayvon Martin, 17, after having had an argument with him because he found him suspect. The boy, who was on his way to his father's, wore a sweatshirt with the hood down, but was unarmed.
Suites. George Zimmerman, whose father is white and Hispanic mother, received one of the most controversial acquittals in the history of American justice. In July 2013, a popular jury, made up of five white women and a Hispanic, found him not guilty under a highly criticized concept of self-defense.
On December 4, 2019, George Zimmerman summons the parents of his victim, as well as their lawyer and other witnesses, accusing them of having agreed to produce a testimony against him during his trial in 2013. He demands 100 million dollars in damages.
