The uncle of Darnella Frazier, the Minneapolis teenager who was recently awarded an honorary Pulitzer for filming the viral video of the arrest of George Floyd, which led to his death at the hands of ex-Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, has died after a collision with police.
While officers from the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) were pursuing a suspect in an armed robbery Tuesday morning, one officer’s squad car struck an unrelated vehicle.
That vehicle was being driven by Leneal Frazier, Darnella’s uncle. He died of his injuries from the crash.
Frazier took to Facebook to express her frustration with MPD.
“I honestly can’t believe I’m making this post right now…I’m so hurt…nothing feels real. I woke up to the most horrible news,” going on to write, “MY uncle… Another Black man lost his life in the hands of the police! I asked my mom several times “he died??” I couldn’t accept what I was hearing and still can’t. Some things just take time to process.” she wrote.
Frazier said her uncle was headed to his girlfriend’s house at the time of the crash.
Leneal’s daughter, Lanesha Frazier, also spoke out after the death of her father.
“This is not fair, not right,” she reportedly said. “I didn’t expect that to be my father. I’m really grieving because all these police out here, they’re not watching what they’re doing… they need to watch what they’re doing, innocent people out here being hurt.”
Darnella Frazier filmed the more than nine minute interaction between Chauvin and Floyd, wherein Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck and back. The video quickly went viral, and was shared millions of times across the web. It was also the key piece of evidence in the state’s trial against Chauvin.
After a weeks-long trial, a jury rendered a guilty verdict against Chauvin on charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
At the end of June, he was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Minnesota Sun and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to dabroscareports@gmail.com.
Photo “Minneapolis Police Department Squad Car” by Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 2.0.