“The Five” co-host Lawrence Jones said Thursday that charges should be filed against four Minneapolis police officers in the death of George Floyd, who was filmed being pinned down with an officer’s knee on his neck shortly before his death Monday night.
Jones also responded to Wednesday night’s rioting that resulted in the death of at least one person in Minnesota’s largest city.
“When the tragedy like this happens, reports come out afterwards and you see that the majority of the people that set things on fire aren’t from those neighborhoods,” he said. “They are outside people. They’re Antifa. It’s not the community that is mourning.”
GEORGE FLOYD CASE: TWO MN COPS CAUGHT ON TAPE HAVE HISTORY OF CONDUCT COMPLAINTS
Jones then stated that if the circumstances were reversed and a police officer was murdered by a civilian while bystanders asked the perpetrator to let the officer up, “they would be in jail right now and there would be no bail.
“I think it’s important that, when we are having this conversation, to take the city in context,” he said. “The city has gone through this before. They have been sued by police officers and [members of] their department before because of racism.
“One of those people that sued them is the current chief of police. The union rep that is in that police department was seen by the police chief with a white-power sign on his jacket.”
Jones added that given that history, he could have found himself in Floyd’s place Monday night.
“My first job was working in juvenile court but I’m also a black man and this could have been me,” he said. “When you see people like me who are conservatives, when you see somebody like Tim Scott [of South Carolina] — the first black Republican senator [from the South] since Reconstruction — saying, ‘I’ve been pulled over in the Capitol seven times and the cop tells me, “That Senate pin I recognize … your face I don’t recognize,'” this is why you see outrage in this country.”
Jones noted that many conservatives are questioning the power of state law enforcement as part of the recent controversies over coronavirus-induced lockdown orders.
“And now they’re saying, ‘Maybe what’s happening in the black community, maybe they weren’t lying all along,'” Jones said. “Of course, there are people in the media and on the left that take advantage of these tragedies but you know me, I’m not one of those type of people.”
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Derek Chauvin, the officer caught on camera kneeling on Floyd’s neck, has been the subject of a 10 conduct complaints and three police shootings that led to no disciplinary action during his 19 years on the job.
Tou Thao, the second officer seen in the video, also has a checkered past that includes allegations of police brutality and a lawsuit.
Chauvin, Thao, and fellow officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng were fired Tuesday. No charges have yet been filed.
Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report.
