As protests over George Floyd’s death enter their fifth day and tensions between protesters and the police remain at an all-time high in some areas, some police officers and sheriff’s deputies across the country are standing with the protesters.
Police officers have stood in solidarity with the anti-police brutality movements after the death of George Floyd in locations from Santa Cruz, California, to Miami, Florida:
- In Santa Cruz, California, Police Chief Andy Mills kneeled in memory of George Floyd alongside other protesters. Mills has also been outspoken about the subject of police brutality and has slammed the police officers involved in Floyd’s death.
“If a police officer saw a criminal kneeling on the neck of a police officer suffocating him/her to death, would they wait to make an arrest? How is this different?” Mills tweeted.
- Demonstrators and police chiefs from Miami-Dade County kneeled and said a prayer following Floyd’s death.
- In Flint, Michigan, protesters invited a sheriff to walk alongside them in protest, chanting, “Walk with us!” The sheriff accepted the invitation.
“We want to be with y’all, for real. I took my helmet off, laid the batons down. I want to make this a parade, not a protest,” Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson told protesters in Flint, Michigan, before he joined the crowd of cheering demonstrators.
- Officers in Camden, New Jersey, helped protesters carry a banner, reading “Standing in Solidarity,” and joined the protesters in chanting, “no justice, no peace.”
- Two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers — one white and one black — held a sign which read, “End police brutality.”