President Trump on Wednesday described the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody as a “very sad event” and said he expects a “full report” when he returns to Washington.
“We’re going to look at it, and we’re going to get a report tomorrow when we get back,” Trump told reporters while touring the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., when asked whether the police officers involved in the death should be prosecuted. “We’re going to get a very full report.”
Floyd, an unarmed African American man, died Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Video captured by onlookers showed Floyd telling the officers that he couldn’t breathe as one of them held him down with a knee on top of his neck. The footage quickly spread on social media, prompting widespread outrage.
All four police officers involved in the incident that led to Floyd’s death have been fired from the Minneapolis Police Department. Local authorities and the FBI are investigating, according to the department.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) earlier Wednesday called for charges against the police officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck.
“Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” Frey said in during a press conference. “If you had done it or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate Floyd’s death.
“We have to get to the root of all this,” Biden said during a virtual event with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D). “You know, we have to ensure that the Floyd family receive the justice they’re entitled to, and as a nation … we have to work relentlessly to eradicate these systemic failures that inflict so much damage on not just one family, one community but on the people of color all across this nation.”