THE owner of the store in Minneapolis, where George Floyd allegedly tried to use a forged $20 bill, says he will no longer cooperate with the police because it "always does more harm than good".
It was Mahmoud Abumayyaleh's store, Cup Foods, that made the call to police which triggered a chain of events leading to George Floyd's death.
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In a post to Facebook on May 31, Mr. Abumayyaleh said: "We are deeply saddened and outraged by what happened to George Floyd in front of our store.
"There is no justification for the use of reckless force displayed by the police that murdered George Floyd."
Mr.Abumayyaleh was not present at the store, which has been owned by his family for 31 years, at the time of Floyd's killing.
His nephew, however, berated the police while they tussled with Floyd, he said, and was pushed away by the officers.
The Minnesota store owner continued: "the incidents that led up to this event teach us all an important lesson about dealing with police.
"By simply following procedure we are putting our communities in danger.
"Until the police stop killing innocent people, we will handle incidents like this one using non-violent tactics that do not involve police.
"Despite the fact that George never resisted arrest, police proceeded to end George Floyd’s life over a counterfeit bill.
"It’s likely that George did not even know that he had a fake bill, to begin with."
'UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITIONS'
A clerk at the store had called the police on George Floyd around 8 pm on May 25 after the 46-year-old security guard allegedly tried to pay for cigarettes using a counterfeit bill.
Responding police arrested Mr. Floyd outside of the shop where one proceeded to push him to the ground.
Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Mr. Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes despite his pleas that he couldn't breathe.
He was originally thought to have died later in hospital but an independent autopsy found that he had died "many minutes" before he was taken to hospital.
The pathologist conducted an independent autopsy after preliminary findings from the official report said that “underlying health issues” likely contributed to the black dad’s death.
Mr. Baden and Allecia Wilson’s autopsy called for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to be charged with first-degree murder and disputed accounts by law enforcement that Mr. Floyd died at a Minnesota hospital.
Mr. Baden reaffirmed his findings on June 1, telling Fox News: “They tried to do CPR with him going in the ambulance and they couldn’t get a pulse.
“He had a cardiac arrest and they tried to shock him and the shocks didn’t work. He was dead before they put him on the stretcher.
Mr. Baden added: “He is dead many minutes before he gets to the hospital.”
Protests against Mr. Floyd's death began the day after he was killed and have since spread across the country.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden have both called the Floyd family to express their condolences.
Derek Chauvin has since been charged with murder while the other three officers involved in the incident have been fired.
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