The State of Minnesota has filed a human rights complaint against the Minneapolis Police Department for the death of George Floyd.
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During a press conference, Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights made the announcement early Tuesday afternoon. Walz said the investigation will look into the policies, procedures, and practices within the past 10 years to determine whether the MPD has used discriminatory measures to target minorities as reported by the Daily Mail. He added, ‘Minnesota has one of the strongest civil rights laws in the country. It is illegal for the police department to discriminate against someone because of their race.’
Walz also noted that this is the first time the state has launched a civil rights investigation for “systematic discriminatory practices of the largest police department in the state.”
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The decision comes almost a week after George Floyd murdered by former MPD officer Derek Chauvin on May 25. Chauvin kneeled on Floyd for approximately eight minutes and remained on his neck for two more minutes after Floyd died. An autopsy conducted by the family ruled that he died from asphyxia due to the lack of blood flow to his brain when Chauvin kneeled on his neck.
‘This effort is only one of many steps to come to build trust in those communities who have been unseen, unheard and believe that those that are charged to serve and protect, not only don’t do that, they work against them,’