Bodycams Show Officers Hunting Civilians During George Floyd Protests

By Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer

Another batch of body camera videos released Tuesday show how Minneapolis police officers became increasingly militaristic in their attempt to clamp down on protesters five days after George Floyd was killed.

They mocked some demonstrators and sought out others who were breaking curfew and fired rubber bullets at them. They made racially tinged remarks, derided the working press and celebrated direct hits with their rubber bullets. As citizens hurled insults at the officers — saying this is exactly the sort of behavior they were protesting — MPD officers continued to fire on people as they fled.

“We’re unarmed!” a woman yelled at the officers in one video. “What are y’all tryin’ to do?”

“Go home!” an officer yelled back.

When a citizen yelled about the police being civil servants, an officer replied “F*** you!”

A woman hollered at the police: “What the f*** are we gonna do to you? We’re out here peacefully protesting; this is f***ing America! We can say what we want!”

That prompted a barrage of shots from officers.