Jon Jones Speaks Out Against Police Officer Involved in Death of George Floyd
Officer with his prize kill. Will the government tell the world this is OK? pic.twitter.com/THcF3lSQai
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
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That includes UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who spoke out against the incident to his more than 2 million Twitter followers on Tuesday evening.
Four Minneapolis police officers responded to a “forgery in progress” on Tuesday afternoon, according to a police statement.
"Officers were advised that the suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence," the statement read. "Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male believed to be in his 40s, in his car. He was ordered to step from his car.
"After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance.”
The video, taken by an onlooker on a cell phone, shows the man, later identified as George Floyd, moaning and pleading with officers that he can’t breathe as one officer keeps his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. Meanwhile, numerous people surrounding the incident can be overheard protesting Floyd’s treatment and urging the officer to get him off the ground.
“There needs to be a nationwide policy change,” Jones wrote. “When a man is in handcuffs and is screaming that he cannot breathe. Get the f—k off his chest and or neck. If you cant hold a man who is in handcuffs down by his feet you’re a p—-y and probably shouldn’t be wearing that badge.”
Floyd eventually became unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital and later died. The officers involved have not yet been identified. The incident highlights the ongoing conflict between police brutality and race in the United States: Floyd was black, and the officer using physical force to subdue him was white.
“The dude literally at one point cried out for his mother,” Jones wrote. “That officer was disgusting and every other officer, brown person, white person, yellow, citizen in this country should be pissed off. We need justice.”
According to Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, the four officers involved have been “relieved of duty status.
"For the better part of the night I've been trying to find the words to describe what happened and all I keep coming back to is that he should not have died," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference. "What we saw was horrible, completely and utterly messed up. This man's life matters, he matters. He was someone's son, someone's family member, someone's friend. He was a human being and his life mattered.”
Jones, meanwhile, compared the the officer’s use of force, which he called a “blood choke,” to Ovince St. Preux’s “Von Preux” maneuver.
“The anxiety that man had to [have] been experiencing must have been excruciating,” Jones wrote.
I wouldnt wish the way George Floyd was murdered on my worst enemy. That officer applied just enough pressure to keep him alive for almost six minutes in that chokehold. In all my years of fighting I can honestly say I’ve never experienced anything close to that level of torture
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
There needs to be a nationwide policy change. When a man is in handcuffs and is screaming that he cannot breathe. Get the fuck off his chest and or neck. If you cant hold a man who is in handcuffs down by his feet you’re a pussy and probably shouldn’t be wearing that badge
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
That whole if you can talk you can breathe crap is bullshit. What that man went through was worse than drowning
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
The dude literally at one point cried out for his mother. That officer was disgusting and every other officer, Brown person white person, yellow, citizen in this country should be pissed off. We need justice.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
Anyone who has practiced the very basics of jujitsu recognizes a #bloodchoke when they see this. That was as clear as day #murder #torture
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
It’s the same exact concept as the OSP choke. The anxiety that man had to of been experiencing must’ve been excruciating
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) May 27, 2020
