The main Los Angeles County prosecutor and the family of a black man killed by Minneapolis police last summer denounced allegations that Los Angeles police officers circulated a mock photo of George Floyd on Valentine’s Day with the caption “You take mine breath”.
The LAPD launched an internal investigation and was scheduled for Monday to interview the police officer who reported the incident, Chief Michel Moore told The Times on Saturday. No further information was available on Monday afternoon, said an LAPD spokesman.
Floyd was killed in May after an officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes while Floyd repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe”. His death sparked protests and outrage around the world, which was amplified by allegations of false Valentine’s Day.
“This is more than an insult over an injury – it is an injury over death,” said Floyd family lawyer Ben Crump in a statement. “The kind of insensitivity and cruelty within a person’s soul needed to do something like that is beyond understanding – and is indicative of a much bigger problem within the LAPD culture.”
Dist. From Los Angeles County Atty. George Gascón also issued a statement on Monday, calling the charges “extremely disturbing” and saying that everyone involved should be fired.
“The celebration of the murder of a black man at the hands of the police demonstrates a profound absence of humanity,” said Gascón. “Valentine’s simulation highlights the highly problematic and, frankly, racist perceptions that permeate the culture of law enforcement in relation to the communities we swear to protect and serve.”
Gascón praised Moore’s “quick action” to investigate and said the prosecutor’s office would also “be investigating this matter to determine whether the integrity of any of our cases may have been compromised by biased police work”.
The incident was brought to light by an LAPD official who reported that Floyd’s photo was being “distributed” by other officers, Moore said on Saturday.
The union representing LAPD officials also denounced the fake Valentine’s Day.
“The Los Angeles Police Protective League rejects this abominable image and anyone associated with its creation, dissemination or passive observation of it,” said the statement.
“If this image was created, ‘liked’ or shared by an LAPD member, the Chief of Police must act quickly to hold these individuals to account,” the document said. “There must be zero tolerance for this behavior in our profession.”
The complaining officer would be interviewed on Monday, Moore said, with the aim of determining where and how the image may have entered the workplace, online or otherwise, and who might be involved.
“Our investigation aims to determine the accuracy of the allegations and, at the same time, reinforce our zero tolerance for anything with racist views,” said the chief.
If the department confirms that the police were circulating the image, “people will find my anger,” said Moore.
Moore also confirmed that the department is investigating two Instagram accounts that people reported as possibly linked to department employees – including a so-called “Blue Line Mafia”.