HOUSTON — Houston’s police chief, mayor and several city council members condemned the actions of four Minneapolis police officers leading up to the death of George Floyd.
“You can’t defend it,” said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. “It was hard to watch.”
Acevedo leads the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which released a statement Wednesday saying, in part, “the death of Mr. Floyd is deeply disturbing” and “the officers’ actions are inconsistent with the training and protocols of our profession.”
Acevedo said it’s been “heartening” to see chiefs and the communities they serve both condemning the same actions.
“Putting your weight, putting your knee in the back of an individual’s neck is not acceptable in this department, and it’s not acceptable in any legitimate police department that I’ve encountered in my career,” he said.
Acevedo said Houston’s officers make more than 2 million contacts with the community each year, adding the vast majority go well.
“These incidents set us back, and we have to work that much harder to regain that trust,” he said. “It makes me worry about the good police officers, and it makes me worry about the extended community because if people don’t trust the police, we all lose.”
During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Sylvester Turner told council members police are intensifying their training to build relationships with the community.
“What I saw yesterday (in the video) was very, very, very, disturbing,” Turner said. “It was disturbing, and I replayed it many, many times. I don’t need to see the clip. I can see it within my own mind’s eye. So, we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we also have to recognize that every life, every person has value.”
Turner said another goal is to make videos of police shootings public if family members of the victim do not object.
Several councilmembers condemned the video and called for change and accountability to protect African-Americans.
“I have a 15-year-old son, and he thinks he’s invincible as a ninth-grader,” councilmember Jerry Davis said. “He wants to go down the bike trails that we put in throughout the city for the connectivity. He likes to get up and run in the morning, and I want to tell him, 'No.' It’s just sad. It’s really hard.”
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