George Floyd, a black man in the US, passed away as a white police official knelt on his neck. His death had sparked worldwide outrage, and protests had erupted across the country. Against this backdrop several other cases where police officials have detailed black individuals in a somewhat heavy handed manner have come to light.
In recent days Oklahoma has made headlines repeatedly. In early June, deputies from the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office were lauded for taking a knee with protesters. But the state which will play host to an upcoming rally for President Donald Trump has also been facing heavy criticism over a 2019 case where a detained black individual died in a manner that bears some resemblance to Floyd's death.
Now, yet another incident of police using excessive force to subdue a black individual has come to light, this time from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
According to a CNN report, the body-cam video that was released by the Tulsa is from an arrest that took place last week. A black teenager had been arrested and a second was handcuffed for jaywalking. Reportedly, the videos have been blurred to conceal the identities of the teenagers.
Video footage posted on Twitter by ABC World News shows a handcuffed black individual who is pulled out of the police patrol car and throwing him onto the ground. With his hands seemingly restrained behind his back, the person has no way to break their fall, and lands on his back.
A white police officer can then be seen standing over him and saying something, following which another lifts him to a sitting position by pulling on the front of his shirt.
"I want every kid in Tulsa to feel safe to walk down the street in their neighborhood. No Tulsa kid should have to fear being tackled and cuffed for walking down the street," wrote Mayor GT Bynum in a lengthy Facebook post.
"I viewed that footage last night more as a parent than a mayor. I know the officers in that unit focus on removal of illegal guns from the streets, but the goal of that work should be that families feel safe in their neighborhood. This instance accomplished the opposite," he said, adding that the incident was under investigation.
In related news, US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would be deferring his June 19 Oklahoma rally by a day. June 19 incidentally commemorates the abolition of slavery in the US, and as Trump put it, he had been urged by many of his African American friends and other supporters to change the date.
Thus, the rally has been rescheduled "out of respect for that holiday and all that it stands for". The President has also assured that 200,000 people have already asked to attend the meeting -- a prospect that is perhaps a tad bit alarming considering that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage.
