George Floyd, the unarmed black man who suffocated under the knee of a police officer in the US city of Minneapolis, has been described as ‘a loving person’ and a devoted father who worked hard to support his family.
George Floyd, the unarmed black man who suffocated under the knee of a police officer in the US city of Minneapolis, has been described as “a loving person” and a devoted father who worked hard to support his family.
“Everybody loved my brother,” Philonese Floyd said on Tuesday, a day after the killing that sparked nationwide protests and growing demand for justice amid renewed accusations of systemic racism in the US.
The late 46-year-old Floyd moved to Minneapolis from his native Houston several years ago in hopes of finding work and starting a new life, according to Christopher Harris, Floyd’s lifelong friend.
But he lost his job as a security guard at a restaurant when Minnesota’s governor issued a stay-at-home order as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Harris told The Associated Press news agency he had spoken to Floyd on Sunday night and gave him some information to contact a temporary jobs agency.
Early life
Floyd grew up in Houston’s Third Ward, one of the city’s predominantly black neighbourhoods, where he and Harris met in middle school.
At an imposing two metres tall, that earned him the nickname “gentle giant”, Floyd became a star athlete in basketball and football at a young age.
“Quiet personality but a beautiful spirit,” Donnell Cooper, one of Floyd’s former classmates said. His death “definitely caught me by surprise. It’s just so sad, the world we’re living in now”.
Floyd was charged in 2007 with armed robbery in a home invasion in Houston and in 2009 was sentenced to five years in prison as part of a plea deal, according to court documents.
