President Trump spoke on Friday to the family of George Floyd, the black Minnesota man killed in an encounter with a white police officer, and said he has directed the Justice Department to expedite a probe of his death.
“It should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that,” the president said during an event at the White House. “But we’re determined that justice be served.”
Authorities in Minneapolis on Friday charged the former police officer, Derek Chauvin, with third-degree homicide and manslaughter. Cellphone video of the encounter showed Mr. Chauvin knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck on the street for nearly nine minutes as he lost consciousness.
“He was in tremendous pain, obviously, and couldn’t breathe. It was a very, very sad thing for me to see that,” the president said of the video. “That was a horrible thing to watch. It’s a local situation, but we’re also making it into a federal situation and it’s a terrible thing.”
The president said most police officers in the U.S. are “outstanding,” and this incident was “a terrible insult to police.”
“It would certainly look like there was no excuse for it,” Mr. Trump said.
The president said of his conversation with Mr. Floyd’s family, “I just expressed my sorrow. They were grieving very much.”
Mr. Trump also called on demonstrators in Minneapolis to protest peacefully. Riots in the city have resulted in at least one death, businesses were burned, and the governor called out the National Guard to restore order.
“It’s very important that we have peaceful protesters, and support the rights for peaceful protesters,” Mr. Trump said. “We can’t allow a situation like happened in [Minneapolis] to descend further into lawless anarchy and chaos. It’s very important, I believe, to the family, to everybody, that the memory of George Floyd be a perfect memory.
“The looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of so many peaceful protesters,” he said. “It’s so bad for the state and for that great city. I understand the hurt, I understand the pain. People have really been through a lot. The family of George is entitled to justice, and the people of Minnesota are entitled to live in safety.”
The president earlier had tweeted that the rioters were “thugs,” and warned that looters could get shot. Gov. Tim Walz said the president’s tweet was “not helpful.”
The president said many of the demonstrators are “good people and they were protesting for the right reason” — to honor the victim.
“And then you had people that got out of control,” Mr. Trump said. “That won’t happen again. It can’t happen again.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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