As a peaceful Black Lives Matter march made its way through Franklin Township, N.J., the group protesting against police brutality and systemic racism walked past a white man kneeling on the neck of another white man in a mocking reenactment of George Floyd’s death.
The men were part of a group of white counterprotesters with flags supporting President Trump and “Blue Lives Matter” that barked, “Black lives matter to no one,” and “Police lives matter,” at those marching on Monday to remember Floyd.
The unarmed black man whose death after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes has sparked widespread protests.
“This is what happens when you don’t comply with the cops!” yelled the man who was kneeling on the other man’s neck.
“Comply with the cops and this wouldn’t have happened! He didn’t comply! It’s his fault he’s dead, not the cop!” They further yelled.
Just would like to speak about how disgusting, racist and evil people can genuinely be. Couple of Franklinville trump supporters mocking the tragedy of George Floyd. Twitter, do your thing please. This is unacceptable and disturbing pic.twitter.com/rgX37UuUEX
— Lexi Fagotti (@lexifagotti) June 8, 2020
On Tuesday, after the angry encounter was denounced by state leaders and law enforcement, one of the men in the video, a corrections officer, has been suspended, while another was fired from his job at FedEx.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections announced the suspension of a senior corrections officer at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, N.J., who has also been banned from state facilities pending a thorough and expedited investigation.
“We have been made aware that one of our officers participated in the filming of a hateful and disappointing video that mocked the killing of George Floyd,” the department said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Many on Tuesday, including actor-rapper Ice Cube, called for the FedEx employee to be fired for his racist actions.
“We do not tolerate the kind of appalling and offensive behavior depicted in this video,” tweeted FedEx, not naming the former employee.
“The individual involved is no longer employed by FedEx. We stand with those who support justice and equality.”
