Scott Olson/Getty ImagesBy ELLA TORRES, ABC News
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Friends, families and strangers are expected to mourn George Floyd’s death and honor his life at a memorial on Thursday, the first of a handful of services to honor him.
It was just over a week ago that Floyd’s death was caught on camera. His name has now become synonymous with a fight for justice and against police brutality.
The service begins at 1 p.m. local time at North Central University in Minneapolis, where he lived and died.
Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver a “national eulogy,” and attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the Floyd family, will deliver a “national criminal justice address.”
Floyd, 46, died on May 25 after an officer was seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck. Officers had handcuffed him for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill and were trying to force him into a squad car when he became stiff. Floyd told them he was “not resisting,” but that he did not want to get in the squad car and he was claustrophobic.
Floyd eventually fell to the ground, still handcuffed, and continued to be restrained until he stopped moving.
Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old officer who was seen in a video with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, is facing charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. The three other officers at the scene — Thomas Lane, 37, Tou Thao, 34, and J Alexander Kueng, 26 — are facing charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Two other memorial services will be held for Floyd on June 6 in Raeford, North Carolina, the state where Floyd was born, and Houston, Texas, where Floyd had previously lived, on June 8.
A private funeral service will be held at the same location on June 9 at 11 a.m. local time, which former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to attend, Crump said at a press conference on Tuesday.
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