George Floyd’s Son Visits Site Where Father Was Killed: ‘We Want Justice’

Quincy Mason Floyd, George Floyd’s son, paid an emotional visit to the location where his father died at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, telling the crowd that he wants “justice for what’s going on right now” and that “no man or woman should be without their father.”

“This is so emotional,” said a visibly distraught Quincy, who thanked the protesters around the country for demonstrating against police brutality and for reform on behalf of his father. 

George Floyd, a Black man, died last month after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds outside of convenience store Cup Foods.

At the same spot on Wedensday, Quincy told a crowd of supporters and reporters that he and his family want “justice for what’s going on right now.” He was joined by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who pleaded with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to provide justice and charge all of the officers present at the time of Floyd’s death.

“Change is going to come in the tragic killing of George Floyd, and I proclaim with his son as my witness, that change starts today,” Crump told the crowd. “We are confident that Attorney General Keith Ellison is working feverishly to do the right thing.”

Chauvin, who was fired from the Minneapolis police department, was arrested last week and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. His fellow officers — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, who were all present during the incident ― have yet to be charged. Ellison’s office is expected to make an important announcement regarding additional charges, if any, later on Wednesday.

“They’re complicit,” Crump said outside Cup Foods. He added: “They all participated.”

Crump also encouraged the crowd to chant, “All the world is watching.”

Quincy’s visit to the site of his father’s death comes after an independent autopsy commissioned by Floyd’s family found that Floyd’s death was a “homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain.”

That finding contradicted a preliminary report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, which said in the criminal complaint against officer Derek Chauvin that “no physical findings” supported “a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” 

Cup Foods is owned by Mahmoud Abumayyaleh, who has been outspoken about his store’s role in Floyd’s death. A clerk at his store called the police after Floyd allegedly paid them with a counterfeit $20 bill. In a lengthy note on Facebook, Abumayyaleh said that he is “deeply saddened for our part of this tragedy” and supports the protests over Floyd’s death.

“We have been a cornerstone and pillar of this community for three generations of our family and for 31 years have proudly served our neighborhood. Since George’s untimely passing, Cup Foods has been in regular contact with Floyd’s family who flew in from Houston,” Abumayyaleh wrote, adding that his store is “standing together to demand accountability from the cops.”

Abumayyaleh also said that he’ll be “donating to pay for George Floyd’s memorial service” and vowed not to involve the police in future “incidents like this one.”