Published 12:18 IST, June 9th 2020
Police escort George Floyd's casket to funeral home
George Floyd's casket was placed in a hearse and escorted by police back to a funeral home, following a public memorial in a Houston church on Monday.
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George Floyd's casket was placed in a hearse and escorted by police back to a funeral home, following a public memorial in a Houston church on Monday.
About 6,000 people attended the memorial, ahead of a private funeral service on Tuesday.
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Under a blazing Texas sun, mourners wearing T-shirts with Floyd’s picture or the words “I Can’t Breathe” - one of the other things he cried out repeatedly while pinned down by the police officer - waited for hours to pay their respects.
Floyd’s body, dressed in a brown suit, lay in an open gold-colored casket.
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Floyd, who was 46 when he was killed, will be laid to rest next to his mother.
On May 25, as a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes, Floyd, who was black, cried out for his mother.
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His death sparked international protests and drew new attention to the treatment of African Americans in the U.S. by police and the criminal justice system.
In the past two weeks, sweeping and previously unthinkable things have taken place: confederate statues have been toppled, police departments around America have rethought the way they patrol minority neighborhoods, legislatures have debated use-of-force policies, and white, black and brown people have had uncomfortable, sometimes heated, discussions about race.
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Four Minneapolis officers were charged in connection with Floyd's death, which was captured on video by bystanders, who begged police to stop hurting him.
A Minnesota judge on Monday kept bail at $1.25 million for Derek Chauvin, the police officer charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death.
Chauvin’s former co-workers, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, are charged as accomplices.
12:18 IST, June 9th 2020