A police officer who condemned the killing of George Floyd in a viral video has been fired from his department.
Officer Williams spoke out about the treatment and arrest of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, the four officers who were arrested for George Floyd’s death back in May.
Williams said that he, like most of us, was ‘disgusted by what happened in Minneapolis’ when Floyd died in the hands of their police force after Officer Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes.
Officer Williams was terminated for posting this video on TikTok.#GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/5tmDGtTHtw
— SatelliteHeart (@Satellit3Heart) August 14, 2020
While kneeling on his neck, Floyd repeatedly begged for his life and said that he couldn’t breathe.
Williams said:
Guy on the ground, he’s laying on his stomach, he has handcuffs on. There’s four of y’all, one of him. Who has control of the situation?’
So, somebody’s saying ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’, you don’t think to yourself, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy can’t breathe, he might die’?
Williams added that he became a police officer to do good, to step up when others didn’t, and to protect his community.
Saw Officer Williams got fired for voicing his concerns via tik tok on the George Floyd murder….but the murderers of Breonna Taylor still have their jobshttps://t.co/i26o8VK9OQ
— Knuck If You Buck Luffy (@adamsokatart) August 17, 2020
However his department did an investigation into his video and he was placed on administrative leave for two months. Eventually he was fired as the department claimed the video ‘violated department policy’.
After announcing that he had been relieved of his duties, Williams received a wealth of support while countless people slammed his department.
The officer’s family has since started a GoFundMe page to help support Williams as he seeks legal representation.
