A brother of George Floyd on Monday will visit the Minneapolis intersection where the deadly encounter with police occurred one week ago.
Terrence Floyd is scheduled to speak at noon at E. 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue, the place where George Floyd was detained by police and pinned under the knee of now-fired officer Derek Chauvin for several minutes until he was rendered motionless.
The brother “will be the first member of [George Floyd’s] family to visit the site of his murder,” said Sanford Rubenstein, a New York civil rights attorney who is accompanying Terrence Floyd to Minneapolis.
The Rev. Kevin McCall, who is part of the delegation who is accompanying George Floyd’s younger brother on this visit from Brooklyn, said Monday morning that Terrence Floyd “is going to the site to feel his brother’s spirit at the memorial.”
Video of Chauvin’s curbside detention of the 46-year-old Floyd has ignited sometimes violent and destructive protests for nearly the past week in Minneapolis and cities across the country. Minneapolis remained under curfew until 6 a.m.
Terrence Floyd’s visit comes after a day of protests in the Twin Cities and late-night confrontations between police and demonstrators.
Sunday’s protests took a heart-stopping turn two hours before the curfew when tanker truck driver Bogdan Vechirko barreled in the direction of thousands of protesters gathered on the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, scattering the crowd and narrowly missing what could have been a mass casualty tragedy. Vechirko, 35, of Otsego, was jailed on suspicion of assault and with charges pending.
The incident came as the sixth day of protests across the Twin Cities. Later that evening, about 150 protesters were arrested near I-35W and Washington Avenue in downtown Minneapolis after they failed to heed the 8 p.m. curfew.
Chauvin, who is white, remains in custody and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the May 25 death of Floyd, who was black.
Three other officers who were involved in the incident and have been fired. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said that he anticipates the others will be charged as well.
“I want to see all of them get punished to the full extent for what they did to my brother,” Terrence Floyd said in an interview Sunday with ABC-TV. “Because when I saw the videos, not only was the dude on his neck ... not only that, you got the other three officers behind the camera, behind the car on him. So he can’t move.”
In the interview, Terrence Floyd implored those enraged by his brother’s death to express themselves peacefully.
“Don’t tear up your town,” he said. “All of this is not necessary, because if his own family and blood is not doing it, then why are you? ... Because when you’re finished and turn around and want to go buy something, you done tore it up. So now you messed up your own living arrangements. So just relax. Justice will be served.”