George Floyd’s family is reportedly “outraged” after members of the Los Angeles Police Department allegedly circulated an offensive Valentine’s Day image poking fun at his tragic death. Ben Crump, who represents the family, shared their response in a statement on Monday (Feb. 15).
“The Floyd family is understandably outraged. This is beyond insult on top of injury; it’s injury on top of death,” Crump said on their behalf. “The type of callousness and cruelty within a person’s soul needed to do something like this evades comprehension and is indicative of a much larger problem within the culture of the LAPD.”
As reported by REVOLT, a member of the LAPD reported the offensive image to Internal Affairs on Saturday (Feb. 13), leading to an internal investigation. The Valentine-themed card showed a picture of Floyd and was captioned, “You take my breath away.”
Back in May, Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes. In horrifying footage of the incident, Floyd repeated, “I can’t breathe.”
“Celebrating the murder of a Black man at the hands of police demonstrates a profound absence of humanity,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said on Monday. “The mock Valentine underscores the highly problematic and frankly racist perceptions that pervade the law enforcement culture regarding the communities we are sworn to protect and serve.”
Gascón added that any officers who were involved in the creation and distribution of the “exceedingly disturbing” image should be fired.
Police Chief Michel Moore said the officer who reported the Valentine would be interviewed on Monday in an effort to determine who was involved in the incident.
“Our investigation is to determine the accuracy of the allegations while also reinforcing our zero-tolerance for anything with racist views,” Moore said.
The chief also confirmed that the department is simultaneously investigating two Instagram accounts allegedly linked to LAPD personnel, including one called the “Blue Line Mafia.”