The family of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police officers in 2020, will be among the mourners at Tyre Nichols’ funeral.
Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump — who also represented Floyd’s loved ones — told TMZ several of Floyd’s relatives will attend the service on Wednesday at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis. While the families have not yet met in person, Floyd’s loved ones have already offered their condolences to the grieving family of Nichols, who was brutally beat during a traffic stop on Jan. 7.
He died at a hospital three days later.
“We are definitely assembling around Tyre’s family with our prayers with our thoughts,” Floyd’s cousin, Thomas McLaurin told WNCN. “We know. We’ve gone through what took place to your loved one, and it’s not easy. It’s not easy.”
Graphic video of the confrontation sent shockwaves through the Memphis community and beyond, sparking protests and demonstrations in the days since it was made public on Friday. Footage of Floyd’s death, recorded on cellphones by passersby, similarly incensed the nation.
Minneapolis police officers were responding to allegations that Floyd used a phony $20 bill to purchase cigarettes at a nearby convenience store when the deadly confrontation unfolded on May 25, 2020,
Less than 20 minutes after they arrived on the scene, an unconscious Floyd was pinned on the ground beneath three of the officers. Bystander video later posted online showed him handcuffed and pinned to the concrete under officer Derek Chauvin’s knee for more than nine minutes, during which he repeatedly cried out for help and told officers he could not breathe.
