***BREAKING NEWS ALERTS***
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has apologized to CNN President Jeff Zucker after CNN journalist Omar Jimenez and his team were arrested on live television early Friday while covering protests in Minneapolis. Walz said he is working to have the team released immediately, CNN reported. The protests came following the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer. Jimenez and his crew, including a producer and a camera operator, were placed in handcuffs during a live broadcast. Jimenez and his team could be heard politely offering to move as the police carried out the arrest. It was not clear if the police were aware that the camera was still rolling. Four Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the arrest of George Floyd have been fired, but protesters are demanding that they be charged with murder, after officer Derek Chauvin held a handcuffed Floyd down by pressing his knee on his carotid artery. The incident, which was filmed by bystanders, saw Floyd repeatedly say, “I can’t breathe,” until he stopped moving. Floyd was declared dead shortly after.
The incident, which has been compared with the death of Eric Garner in New York in 2014 when a police officer used an illegal chokehold on him, has sparked protests against police brutality toward the African-American community in cities including Denver, New York, Memphis, Phoenix, and Columbus, Ohio.
This is a Breaking News Alert and will be updated with the latest information.
