Letter to County Attorney Freeman on the Murder of George Floyd

May 28, 2020

To County Attorney Michael Freeman,

As fellow elected leaders, we demand that you immediately arrest and press charges against the officers involved in the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday, May 25th. We have all seen the disturbing video of Mr. Floyd’s final minutes and it is clear he was killed by Minneapolis Police. The community response we are experiencing is directed both at the outrage of this specific killing and the oppressive systems that allowed it to happen.

In order to ensure safety and justice for all of our residents, we will need to pursue dramatic changes and sweeping reforms to our entire system of criminal justice, including how we police. We must create models for community safety that exist outside the militarized and white-supremacist enterprise that policing in America is and has historically been.

We call on you, County Attorney Freeman, to set a new precedent in how you approach police violence and respond to the needs of our shared constituents. There were four officers involved in the murder of a Black man on Memorial Day. We expect you to charge them to the fullest extent of the law and to spare no efforts in obtaining guilty verdicts.

Sincerely,

Commissioner Angela Conley, District 4

Commissioner Irene Fernando, District 2