Category Archives: US policing

US police killings of Black Americans amount to crimes against humanity, international inquiry finds

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In devastating report, human rights experts call on International Criminal Court prosecutor to open an immediate investigation

The systematic killing and maiming of unarmed African Americans by police amount to crimes against humanity that should be investigated and prosecuted under international law, an inquiry into US police brutality by leading human rights lawyers from around the globe has found.

A week after the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death, the unabated epidemic of police killings of Black men and women in the US has now attracted scorching international attention.

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US lawmakers ‘making progress’ on police reform – but it’s still early stages

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There are few who see the passing of meaningful new laws as a guaranteed outcome – but people are still talking

In the aftermath of Derek Chauvin being convicted of murdering George Floyd, it seems like there is momentum for the US Congress to pass some kind of police reform bill.

Hearings on policing have been held and point people on both the Democratic and Republican sides are in talks. By most metrics, Congress is in a comfortable position to pass some kind of bill meant to deter police brutality and prevent another George Floyd or Eric Garner.

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Val Demings: officer who shot Ma’Khia Bryant ‘responded as he was trained’

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Val Demings, a Democratic congresswoman and a former police chief, said on Sunday the officer who fatally shot teenager Ma’Khia Bryant in Ohio this week “responded as he was trained to do”.

Related: Derek Chauvin was found guilty – how typical is that of US police who kill?

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‘Deep systemic racism’: will Minneapolis’s police department ever change?

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The department has seen decades of reform efforts, but activists say racism and violence are too ingrained to eliminate

As Derek Chauvin crushed George Floyd’s neck under his knee, slowly killing him, a police officer who had just joined the force repeatedly asked Chauvin if they should adjust Floyd’s position. Chauvin, a 19-year-veteran of the department, refused.

That precise interaction – an experienced officer training younger officers to act violently – was not a one-time failure, but a “systemic” problem within the Minneapolis police department, according to RT Rybak, who served as Minneapolis mayor for 12 years.

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Andrew Brown shooting: seven North Carolina deputies placed on leave

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Family of 42-year-old said they met with Elizabeth City sheriff but were not shown body-camera footage of his death

After seven North Carolina deputies were placed on leave over the death of Andrew Brown Jr, an African American man shot during the serving of a drug-related warrant, authorities in Elizabeth City added to calls for body camera footage to be released.

Related: Andrew Brown shooting: family describe him as a loving father with a sense of humor

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‘It felt like the bare minimum’: readers respond to the Derek Chauvin verdict

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The guilty verdict in the case of George Floyd’s murder felt to some like a weight lifted off but for many highlighted the need for radical police reform

Like so many, I immediately felt relieved. I’d been sitting in my office for three weeks, refreshing the news coverage, and on that final day I had a knot in my stomach that only got bigger the closer they came to announcing the verdict. I supported defunding the police, in the sense that money would be moved away from police departments toward other social programs and offices, but not do away with traditional policing as a whole. The recent shootings of Daunte Wright and Ma’Khia Bryant have me leaning more towards abolition.

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Yemen, Myanmar and George Floyd: human rights this fortnight in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Peru

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‘He was like a comedian’: Andrew Brown’s aunt pays tribute after fatal shooting by police – video

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Glenda Brown Thomas has paid tribute to her nephew, Andrew Brown, a day after the 42-year-old was shot dead by police in North Carolina. “He had a good laugh, a nice smile. And he had good dimples ... He did not finish school, but he did encourage his children to get a good education," she said.

Brown, from Elizabeth City, was shot and killed on Wednesday by a deputy sheriff trying to serve a search warrant. An witness said Brown tried to drive away, but was shot dead in his car

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‘My son should be burying me’: Calls for police reform at Daunte Wright’s funeral – video

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Hundreds of mourners filled a Minneapolis church for the funeral of Daunte Wright after the 20-year-old was killed two weeks ago by a police officer who said she mistook her gun for a Taser. The funeral came two days after the city's streets were filed by people celebrating the conviction of a former police officer for murdering George Floyd. Civil rights leader Al Sharpton was among those who delivered a eulogy and called for police reform. 'The time has come for police to understand they're not above the law, they're to enforce the law,' he said

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North Carolina: protests after police shooting of Andrew Brown – video

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A sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina shot and killed a black man while serving a search warrant, authorities have said, raising tensions over policing after the Derek Chauvin trial and Ma’Khia Bryant killing. The deputy in Elizabeth City was placed on leave pending a review by the state bureau of investigation. A witness said Brown was shot while trying to drive away

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Biden briefed on ‘tragic’ police killing of Ma’Khia Bryant, White House says

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  • Ma’Khia, 16, shot dead by police in Columbus on Tuesday
  • Protesters take to the streets to decry another police killing

Joe Biden was briefed on Wednesday on the “tragic” fatal police shooting of a 16-year-old Black girl in Columbus, Ohio, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced.

Related: Ohio county where girl, 16, was killed is state’s deadliest for police shootings

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Justice department to investigate Minneapolis policing practices

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  • Merrick Garland announces ‘pattern and practice’ investigation
  • Police use of force and possible discrimination to be scrutinized

The US justice department announced on Wednesday that it is launching a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis, less than a day after a white former officer was convicted of murdering George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, there.

The investigation will examine the use of force by police officers, including force used during protests, and whether Minneapolis police engage in discriminatory practices, the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said in Washington DC on Wednesday morning.

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‘Guilty, guilty, guilty’: world’s media react to Chauvin trial verdict

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Analysis: relief and reflection sweep newsrooms as George Floyd case points to ‘turning point’ in US race relations

With intense international interest in the US trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, news organisations around the world had been live blogging the proceedings and were quick to reflect the ruling by the jury.

Most reporting focused on two themes: a sense of relief in the US that the jury had delivered a verdict many judged correct and the question over what it meant for the future of the US’s fraught racial relations.

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Derek Chauvin found guilty of murder of George Floyd

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Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder for killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, a crime that prompted waves of protests in support of racial justice in the US and across the world.

The jury swiftly and unanimously convicted Chauvin of all the charges he faced – second- and third-degree murder, and manslaughter – after concluding that the white former Minneapolis police officer killed the 46-year-old Black man in May through a criminal assault, by pinning him to the ground so he could not breathe.

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Cheers erupt outside courtroom as Chauvin guilty verdict is delivered – video

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Crowds gathered outside a courtroom in Minneapolis reacted in jubilation when jurors returned a verdict of guilty on all three charges against the former police officer Derek Chauvin, on trial for the klling of 46-year-old George Floyd

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Chauvin guilty verdict a landmark moment in US criminal justice history

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Analysis: The testimony against the ex-officer was damning – it was clear this case was different from so many that had come before

The trial saw 44 witnesses and 15 days of testimony. And, in the end, less than a day to decide that Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis police officer, was guilty of murdering George Floyd.

It is a landmark moment not just in the history of US policing and criminal justice, but around the world. George Floyd’s death came to embody the struggle for racial justice and equality in so many ways they are impossible to condense: from forceful calls for police reform in Minneapolis and new legislation in Washington, to a reckoning on the history of British imperialism in the UK and a resurgence in activism over Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia.

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Will the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict change policing in America?

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George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer touched off a new civil rights uprising that rippled across the world

The jury’s guilty verdict on the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd signaled the conclusion of a historic police brutality trial and a key moment for policing and for the battle for racial equality in America.

Observers have talked about this case being so significant that it will stand as a watershed between the way law enforcement was held to account in the US before George Floyd was pinned by the neck under Chauvin’s knee, and after.

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Derek Chauvin jury begins deliberations as America braces for verdict

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The Derek Chauvin murder trial heard closing arguments on Monday before the jury began considering a verdict over the death of George Floyd that is anxiously awaited by millions of Americans.

Related: Daunte Wright and George Floyd: another chapter in America’s recurring tragedy

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George Floyd killing: protests flare as Americans await verdict in Chauvin trial

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Outcome is expected to resonate nationwide, particularly in cities that have seen continuing demonstrations over police violence

Protests against police killings flared across the US this weekend, from Minneapolis to Chicago to Portland, as Americans wait for a verdict in the trial of the white police officer charged with murdering George Floyd last year.

Closing arguments are expected in the Derek Chauvin trial on Monday. The most serious charge the former Minneapolis officer is facing in Floyd’s death is second-degree murder, but the jury might choose to find him guilty on third-degree murder or manslaughter, or acquit him altogether.

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