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Nearly 1,000 people died in police incidents between George Floyd’s killing and Derek Chauvin’s conviction

New data from Mapping Police Violence reveals that 979 people died in the US following police encounters since George Floyd was murdered in May 2020.

Alice Hutton
Wednesday 28 April 2021 21:21 BST
A Black Lives Matter activist holds a sign against police brutality in front of the Ohio Statehouse in reaction to the shooting of Makiyah Bryant on April 20, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Police Shot and killed Makiyah Bryant, 16 years old, on April 20, 2021 sparking outrage from the community.
A Black Lives Matter activist holds a sign against police brutality in front of the Ohio Statehouse in reaction to the shooting of Makiyah Bryant on April 20, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Police Shot and killed Makiyah Bryant, 16 years old, on April 20, 2021 sparking outrage from the community. (Getty )
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Nearly 1,000 people in the US were allegedly killed in police encounters in the 11-months between the murder of George Floyd and the conviction of the officer, Derek Chauvin, who killed him, it has been reported.

An estimated 979 people died following an incident involving law enforcement between May 2020 and April 2021, according to data collected by the Mapping Police Violence website, including 181 Black people.

Of the total 1,127 deaths in 2020, which include some police staff, only 16 cases, amounting to 1.4%, resulted in criminal charges against officers, as reported by Newsweek.

The figures revealed that Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police in the US, making up 28% of the people whose deaths involved law enforcement in 2020, despite them making up 13% of the population of the US.

Damarra Atkins paid her respects to George Floyd at a mural at George Floyd Square, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Minneapolis, where he was killed in May 2020.
Damarra Atkins paid her respects to George Floyd at a mural at George Floyd Square, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Minneapolis, where he was killed in May 2020. (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Mr Floyd, 46, died on 25 May last year in Minneapolis, after former officer Chauvin pinned his knee on the Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes.

His death, captured on video by a teenage bystander, sparked global Black Lives Matter protests.

Mr Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter on 20 April, following a three-week trial.

Georgetown University professor, Rosa Brooks, said in a Newsweek published extract of her book, Tangled up in Blue, about her experience as a reserve police officer with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department: “The chief lesson learned at the academy was this: Anyone can kill you at any time.

“The dead cops were all heroes. But, it was quietly intimated, they were also failures. Mostly, we were told, they died because they weren’t prepared.”

Myron Hammonds, left, and Paula Bryant, father and mother of Ma'Khia Bryant, the 16-year-old girl shot and killed by a Columbus police officer on April 20, hold a photo of their daughter during a news conference Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. Attorney Michelle Martin representing the family has called for full investigations into the teen’s fatal shooting by a Columbus police officer. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
Myron Hammonds, left, and Paula Bryant, father and mother of Ma'Khia Bryant, the 16-year-old girl shot and killed by a Columbus police officer on April 20, hold a photo of their daughter during a news conference Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. Attorney Michelle Martin representing the family has called for full investigations into the teen’s fatal shooting by a Columbus police officer. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The data also revealed that US police had reportedly killed more than 100 children since 2015, including Adam Toledo in Chicago and Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, this year.

On 29 March, Adam Toledo, a Latino 13-year-old, was fatally shot by Chicago police. Ms Bryant, 16, who is Black, died less than one hour before Mr Chauvin’s verdict, on 20, was announced, after being shot by police during a conflict on the street.

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