MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, has called for an investigation into whether an officer broke any rules after a video surfaced of a woman being knocked to the ground during a protest related to the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said on social media Friday that he’s asked Police Director Michael Rallings to investigate “an event that occurred Wednesday night with one of our officers and a female protester.”
A video has been shared on television and social media that appears to show an officer shoving a woman to the ground. It’s not clear whether she was injured
A racially mixed group of more than 70 people gathered outside the police precinct in Midtown Memphis and then walked down Union Avenue on Wednesday night to protest Floyd’s death. Police set up barricades and blocked the avenue, a main Memphis thoroughfare. Officers later donned helmets, protective shields and other riot gear as the situation became increasingly strained and raucous late into the night.
Tensions also were escalated by the presence of a man who was holding a sign referencing a Confederate group.