As George Floyd is honored, pressure mounts on police – and Trump

Police reform legislation being drafted in the House will focus on “accountability” for officers, says Congresswoman Karen Bass. Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, talked about the legislative package currently being written in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the protests against police brutality which have roiled the nation.

“The number one issue in policing is police accountability,” Bass said in an interview with CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett for this week’s episode of “The Takeout” podcast. She said she expected the final legislation would include several bills, such as Congressman Hakeem Jeffries’ proposal to ban police chokeholds.

“I’m inclined to push the envelope as far as we can because we have a moment now,” Bass said about the final proposal.

The latest night of protests in New York City sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police was markedly calmer. Protesters again stayed on the streets past 8 p.m., in defiance of the citywide curfew that’s set to remain in effect through at least Sunday.

The city saw fewer violent clashes than in days past. But several videos posted to Twitter on Thursday night showed police aggressively confronting peaceful protesters — often resulting in arrest — in the Bronx and elsewhere. In other places, police watched but didn’t immediately move in, or made orderly arrests without the batons and riot gear of previous nights.

Earlier Thursday, a memorial service featuring Floyd’s brother Terrence Floyd was held at Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza, where the night before police had used batons and pepper spray on protesters who remained after curfew, videos show.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has defended his officers and the department’s overall use of force.

Mayor Bill De Blasio was booed and heckled at Floyd’s memorial. The mayor had previously praised the police for using “a lot of restraint” overall, but added that “if there’s anything that needs to reviewed, it will be.”

South Africa’s ruling party says it is launching a “Black Friday” campaign in response to the “heinous murder” of George Floyd and “institutionalized racism” in the U.S., at home, and “wherever it rears its ugly head.”

A statement by the African National Congress says President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday evening was to address the launch of the campaign that calls on people to wear black on Fridays in solidarity.

The campaign is also meant to highlight “deaths by citizens at the hands of security forces” in South Africa, which remains one of the world’s most unequal countries a quarter-century after the end of the racist system of apartheid.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a South Africa leader who was involved in the struggle to end apartheid and is now an Under Secretary General of the United Nations, spoke with CBS News’ Pamela Falk from Johannesburg this week about the protests and where they might lead.  

“People are feeling exhausted about us talking about racism. Try living it to know how exhausting it is to live it,” she said. “Those who cannot take talking about it, they haven’t lived it to know how much that it eats you from within. So, we need to make sure that we create conditions that will make people feel and touch the changes that are coming into their lives.”  

–CBS/AP

Kanye West was in attendance Thursday evening for a protest rally in solidarity with George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis police last week. The rally was organized by activist and onetime mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green. It is intended to protest the $33 million contract that Chicago Police has with Chicago Public Schools.

The protest began at the Chicago Public Schools District Office and proceeded to Chicago Police Headquarters. West did not address the rally and only marched briefly. He wore a hoodie and mask and walked along with hundreds of people. 

As CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reported, there have been calls for West to speak out and have more of a voice in recent days.

He has made a $2 million dollar donation to support the families of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police in March, while three white men are charged with shooting and killing Arbery while he was jogging in Glynn County, Georgia.

–CBS Chicago

Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall has put a new rule on the force’s policy books making it “the duty of every employee” who witnesses the use of physical force “being inappropriately applied” or used longer than necessary “to either stop, or attempt to stop” the action in question.

A statement released Thursday by the Dallas Police said the new “Duty to Intervene” order was implemented by Chief Hall, “to create a culture where what happened to Mr. [George] Floyd does not happen again.”

“Millions watched a Minneapolis police officer suffocate Mr. George Floyd to death by applying pressure with his knee on the victim’s neck for nearly 9 minutes. His fellow co-workers either assisted or stood by and watched Mr. Floyd take his last breath. Had the officer’s partners intervened, the outcome might have been different,” the police said in the statement.

Kansas City is reforming police procedures after criticism from black organizations about police conduct during nearly a week of protests as well as long-standing tension between the department and minorities, the mayor announced Thursday.

A coalition of civil rights organizations demanded Wednesday that Police Chief Rick Smith be fired. But Mayor Quinton Lucas said Smith would remain “as we weather our current crisis and also as we continue to address our issues related to violent crime and the high number of homicides in Kansas City.”

Lucas said after a closed meeting of the Kansas City Police Board of Commissioners that the city would ask an outside agency to review all police-involved shootings; create whistleblower protections for officers; end a department policy of not sending probable cause statements to prosecutors in officer-involved shootings; review officers’ use of tear gas and projectiles; and provide updates to the city council on the department’s community engagement efforts. 

Lucas said he hoped a review of tear gas and projectile use would lead to a new policy in the near future. 

The city announced Wednesday that $2.5 million in private funding has been donated to buy police body cameras.  

Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell issued a statement Thursday on the death of Manuel Ellis, confirming the four officers involved in his arrest had once again placed on administrative leave. Ramsdell offered his “most sincere condolences” to Ellis’ family and friends. Ellis, a 33-year-old black man, died on March 3 in handcuffs while being restrained on the ground by Tacoma police. 

He was found to have died of respiratory arrest due to hypoxia due to physical restraint, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office, which ruled his death a homicide.

Speaking Thursday night, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards called for the officers involved to be fired and said they should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”  

In a 12-minute police radio recording taken the night of Ellis’ death, he can be heard at one point saying, “I can’t breathe.”

“Our hope is that any investigations bring with them answers for everyone involved,” Ramsdell said.”I would also like to recognize the compassion and empathy our community has shown during this difficult time. We hear your anger, frustrations and hopes. I want you to know we continue to be committed to engaging with you on topics of safety, community policing and race, so that all people feel safe in Tacoma.”