Before a video of his death made George Floyd’s name a rallying cry, the reality of his life was much fuller and more complicated. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed Floyd, will be sentenced Friday.
In this Sunday, June 7, 2020, photo, the sun shines above a mural honoring George Floyd in Houston's Third Ward. Floyd, who grew up in the Third Ward, died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day.
Once a star athlete with dreams of turning pro and enough talent to win a partial scholarship, Floyd returned home only to bounce between jobs before serving nearly five years in prison. Intensely proud of his roots in Houston’s Third Ward and admired as a mentor in a public housing project beset by poverty, he decided the only way forward was to leave it behind.
“She thought that he would be the one that would bring them out of poverty and struggle,” said Travis Cains, a longtime friend. On the basketball court, Floyd’s height and strength won attention from George Walker, a former assistant coach at the University of Houston hired for the head job at what is now South Florida State College. The school was a 17-hour drive away, in a small town, but high school administrators and Floyd’s mother urged him to go, Walker said.
After two years in Avon Park, Floyd spent a year at Texas A&M University in Kingsville before returning to Houston and his mother’s apartment to find jobs in construction and security. In August 2007, Floyd was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Investigators said he and five other men barged into a woman’s apartment, and Floyd pushed a pistol into her abdomen before searching for items to steal. Floyd pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to five years in prison. By the time he was paroled, in January 2013, he was nearing 40.
On the streets of Cuney, Floyd was increasingly embraced as an O.G. -- literally “original gangster,” but bestowed as a title of respect for a mentor who’d learned from life experience. In Minneapolis, Floyd found a job as a security guard at the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center -- the city’s largest homeless shelter.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
What to expect at Derek Chauvin's sentencing for the murder of George FloydFormer Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will learn his prison sentence Friday for the murder of George Floyd, a killing that sparked international protests over the treatment of Black Americans by law enforcement.
Read more »
NYPD investigating vandalism of the George Floyd statue in Brooklyn as a hate crimeA statue of George Floyd that was unveiled in New York on Juneteenth by Floyd's brother was vandalized early Thursday morning and police are investigating the incident as a hate crime, a law enforcement official told CNN.
Read more »
EXPLAINER: What to know as Chauvin sentenced in Floyd deathFormer Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin faces sentencing Friday in the death of George Floyd, with a judge weighing a prison term experts say could be as much as 30 years. Here’s what to know ahead of the hearing.
Read more »
Neo-Nazi group defaces Floyd statue in New York ahead of Chauvin sentencingA statue of GeorgeFloyd, installed in New York less than a week ago, defaced and marked with the name of a neo-Nazi group ahead of his killer dereck Chauvin's sentencing
Read more »