US cities set up curfews again to try to stop after-hours looting

The widespread use of curfews comes after streets filled with peaceful protesters, destructive looters, and violence against and by police late Monday.

By the end of the night, several officers were struck by gunfire and by vehicles, and many more people were arrested. And the protests showed no signs of letting up in the days to come as cities instituted stricter curfews to deal with a fury that has been festering for years.

“Our cities are boiling over because people are in pain,” Louisville Urban League President Sadiqa Reynolds said. “It’s about years and years and years of a lack of access to justice. It’s a lack of accountability on the part of the police departments. It’s about the good officers not calling out the bad ones.”

“We’re tired of being scared,” said 19-year-old Rayven Koha-Jallah, who marched from the governor’s mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, to the state Capitol on Monday night.

NYPD officers arrest a protester during a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

The violence Monday night unfolded despite the Floyd family’s plea for peaceful protests earlier in the day.

Officers shot and hit by vehicles

The Georgia Army National Guard mans an armored security vehicle outside the CNN Center to help manage protesters Monday in Atlanta.

Floyd’s brother, Terrence Floyd, spoke to those gathered in support of his brother Monday, delivering a simple message for those committing violence.

“He would not want y’all to be doing this,” he said.

Not everyone got the message. In St. Louis, four officers were struck by gunfire during protests. Their injuries are non-life-threatening, Chief John Hayden Jr. said.

A firecracker thrown by a protester explodes at the feet of police during a demonstration against the death of George Floyd Monday in Riverside, California.

In Buffalo, New York, three law enforcement officers clearing the scene of a protest were injured when an SUV drove through a police blockade, New York State police said in a news release.

One of the more serious incidents happened in New York City, where a sergeant was hit by a car with such force that the officer flipped sideways in the air. The officer is in serious but stable condition with leg and head injuries, NYPD Lt. Thomas Antonetti said. The driver fled the scene.

There were about 700 arrests in New York City on Monday night for looting and other offenses, including attacks on officers, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.

Late Monday night, some looters in midtown Manhattan appeared to be remarkably organized at times, CNN correspondent Shimon Prokupecz said.

“They would go to stores. They would break the windows. You know, they would use hammers. They would run off. And then, others would come. And then, repeatedly come back,” he said.

Terrence Floyd visits the site in Minneapolis near where his brother George was taken into police custody and later died.

He also threatened to deploy the military against the protests across the country, but state leaders have rejected his hard-line stance.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican and frequent critic of the president, said that while he should have been surprised at the hardline message from the White House, he wasn’t.

“At so many times during these past several weeks when the country needed compassion and leadership the most, it was simply nowhere to be found,” he said.

2 autopsies find Floyd died by homicide, but differ on key details

A mural of George Floyd painted by the artist eme_freethinker on a wall at Mauerpark in Berlin, Germany.

Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s report and an independent autopsy commissioned by Floyd’s family concluded his death was a homicide. But they differ in their account of how it happened.

Video from last week shows Floyd being arrested by four officers. Three held him to the ground, with one officer, Derek Chauvin, seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck as he said that he couldn’t breathe.

The independent autopsy said that Floyd died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure” which cut off blood flow to his brain. But the medical examiner did not mention asphyxiation.

The county release said it found “no physical findings” of asphyxiation, but that the death was a result of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” The county said heart disease and drugs were among “significant conditions” to the death but did not describe the level of drugs in Floyd’s system.

Dr. Michael Baden, one of the independent medical examiners, said “there is no other health issue that could cause or contribute to the death.”

‘We plan to hold everyone accountable’

Chauvin has already been arrested in Floyd’s death, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Monday that more action may soon follow.

All four Minneapolis officers on the scene of Floyd’s death have been fired, but only Chauvin has had charges brought against him. But amid calls for all the officers who saw the incident but did not intervene to face justice, Ellison said he is looking into actions against them.

Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and was initially expected in court Monday, but his appearance has been rescheduled for June 8, the day before Floyd’s funeral.

Though he cannot ethically comment further on possible prosecution, Ellison said Monday he spent the 24 hours prior reviewing evidence.

“We are looking very carefully at holding everybody accountable who failed to do their duty and fell below the legal requirements of their position or did something affirmatively that would be in violation of the law,” Ellison said.

“When we are ready, and that won’t be long from now, we plan on taking the proper and deliberate action,” he said.