Massive Riots break out in USA as Protesters surround Police Station

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA- Massive riots have broken out, and we’re learning that the Minneapolis Police Department 3rd precinct is surrounded by protestors.

Vandals have started attacking police vehicles and smashing in windows with bricks, after police officers choked a victim to death, when he was screaming for help.

Protestors say the riots will continue and are encouraging “anyone within a five hour driving distance” to attend.

Sources on the ground tell Law Enforcement Today that vehicles have been vandalized, spray painted and destroyed.  The reports we’re getting are backed by video from Unicorn Riot.

Officers geared up inside of the surrounded police department and nearby in riot control gear have started to push their way through the parking lot.

Police sources tell us that they’ve started deploying chemical gas canisters – which are being throw back at police from the crowd.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey encouraged people to attend the protest, which comes just hours after four officers were fired in connection with the death of George Floyd.

The city wasted no time in firing four Minneapolis police officers on Tuesday. This, following an incident that is believed to have led to the death of George Floyd.

They were apparently responding to an alleged forgery at a business in south Minneapolis before the detainment of Floyd.

At the beginning of 10-minute video clip a bystander posted to Facebook Monday evening, Floyd was in handcuffs and repeatedly begged the first officer to “please” release the pressure on his back and neck.

He kept saying “I can’t breathe,” and “they’re gonna kill me.” Medical experts have argued in other cases that if you can speak, you can breathe.

While bystanders protested in the video, he continued to keep his knees on top of Floyd for several minutes after he stopped moving. During that time, a second officer told witnesses to stand back.

The Minneapolis Police Department initially put out a release stating Floyd had experienced a “medical incident” while in police custody.

But in the outrage after, they asked the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate Floyd’s death.

Monday morning, Frey read a statement that said the officer in the video had “failed in the most basic, human sense,” and called Floyd’s death “wrong on every level.”

The other two officers fired were said to be those who responded to the scene a short time later.

While the media isn’t showing is the altercation officers got into with Floyd after asking him to come down from a vehicle he was sitting on.

This, after they were called to Chicago and 38th on the report of counterfeit money being used. The story brings to light a movement out of California to tie the hands of law enforcement in regards to the use of “choke-holds”.

As we reported this past fall, a group of activists in San Diego are pushing for new restrictions over police officers using choke hold restraints when they’re dealing with dangerous suspects, and depending on the outcome, it could put the lives of officers at risk.

A large group of activists, community members, professors and others gathered at San Diego State University’s Black Resource Center on Monday to call for the ban of police choke holds, calling the act inhumane and saying that it could lead to death or other lifelong effects.

They called the town hall meeting the “I Can’t Breathe Campaign” in light of Eric Garner’s statements while being restrained by a member of the NYPD years ago before he died in police custody.

Currently, police in San Diego are not authorized to use choke holds unless their lives are in danger. They are, however, able to use something referred to as the “carotid restraint”, in which a strategic hold on the carotid artery causes the suspect to pass out.

As any officer will tell you, the hold could very well mean the difference between life and death, both for the officer and/or the suspect.

But no matter the situation, the Racial Justice Coalition says that choke holds are never warranted. Darwin Fishman, a lecturer at San Diego State University, said that the restraints were too often used against minorities.

A mother from the community raised her concerns over police use of force. Domingos said that the carotid restraint should be banned as well, calling it just as dangerous as the choke hold.

NBC San Diego reported that the SDPD used carotid restraints over 570 times between 2013 and 2018, according to data gathered in a public records request. The past two years of data shows less than a quarter of all those restrained were black.

The San Diego department advised that they had recently changed the protocol over neck restraints during the summer.

They said that now anyone who had been put in the carotid restraint would be required to be brought to the hospital following the encounter.

California just recently signed Assembly Bill 392 into effect, which changes the criteria in which an officer is authorized to issued deadly force.

It has been called the strongest piece of legislation ever concerning police use of force. Though it does not concern neck restraints, the activist group is pushing to add the hold to the list of “lethal force” measures.

Critics say that the new law surrounding deadly force puts police officers at a greater risk of injury or death. It is way too easy for a grand jury, a judge or a trial jury to Monday morning quarterback the situation from the safety of the courtroom.

It is easy to look at the totality of circumstances after the fact. Officers have to make a split-second decision. They do not always have access to the totality.

Law Enforcement Today / ABC Flash Point News 2020.