{"id":8741,"date":"2023-04-14T18:27:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T22:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/?page_id=8741"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:13:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:13:02","slug":"fiftieth-edition-preface-by-keith-ellison-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/fiftieth-edition-preface-by-keith-ellison-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ARCP Fiftieth Edition Preface: Keith Ellison"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Death of George Floyd, the Trial of Derek Chauvin, and Deadly-Force Encounters with Police: Have We Finally Reached an Inflection Point? Or Will the Cycle of Inaction Continue?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMama!\u201d George Floyd, 46, cried out in the waning moments of his life. \u201cMama! I\u2019m through,\u201d gasped Floyd as Derek Chauvin ground his knee into Floyd\u2019s neck and face into the asphalt road surface. \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d Floyd declared at least fifteen times during the first four minutes of seventeen-year-old Darnella Frazier\u2019s smart-phone video. Then his voice faded, his pleas grew further apart, and he eventually went silent. Bystanders, shocked, appalled, and armed with smartphones, pleaded seventeen times with officers to check Floyd\u2019s pulse.<\/p>\n

As the world knows, George Floyd would not survive.<\/p>\n

Do the worldwide demands for justice following the death of George Floyd and the trial and conviction of Derek Chauvin for Floyd\u2019s murder mean we have finally reached an inflection point when it comes to deadly-force encounters with police? It depends.<\/p>\n

The case of George Floyd was not typical, but no case is. <\/b><\/p>\n

There are approximately 1,000 deaths at the hands of police a year.\n\t\t\n\t\t\t