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Use of Force Criticized in Protests About Police Brutality

Associated Press

   As protests grip the nation, officers have doused crowds with pepper
   spray, struck protesters with batons, steered police cars into throngs,
   shoved demonstrators and screamed curses. Some police action has been
   directed against people smashing windows, breaking into stores and
   burning cars, but many find other instances more difficult to
   understand -- like the elderly man knocked over by police as he walked
   with a cane on a Salt Lake City sidewalk.

   The protests began after the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man
   who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer who is now charged
   with murder, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for
   several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.

   Now, some are questioning whether tough police tactics against
   demonstrators are actually making the violence worse rather than
   quelling it.

   While the protests and subsequent police interactions may be shocking
   to some, many African Americans aren't surprised because they've
   endured police brutality for decades, said Chris White, director of the
   Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality,

   "What's happening, it's the way American society has always been,"
   White said.
   WATCH: Kane Farabaugh's video report on protests

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