WASHINGTON, D.C. (NEXSTAR) – An emotional day on Capitol Hill, family members of George Floyd and of an officer killed in George Floyd protests both testified in a hearing as lawmakers discussed how to reform policing.
“I can make sure that his death will not be in vain,” Philonise Floyd said.
An emotional plea from Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.
“I’m here to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain,” Floyd said.
Asking lawmakers to make structural changes to policing.
Congresswoman Karen Bass says Democrat’s Police Reform Bill will prevent more people from dying the way George Floyd did.
“This bold transformative legislation would reimagine the culture of policing while holding accountable those officers who fail to uphold the ethic of serving,” Representative Karen Bass, D-California, said.
Among other measures, it would ban chokeholds, change standards for police use of force, and create a registry of officers with misconduct records.
“We want police to operate in a legal way,” Representative Zoe Lofgren, D-California, said.
Zoe Lofgren says the bill also mandates officers charged with crimes be tried outside their regular jurisdiction.
The Democrats’ bill does not, however, call for defunding the police and when asked, the Floyd family also stopped short of supporting the defund movement.
“It is a ridiculous solution to proclaim that defunding police departments is the solution to police brutality,” Angela Underwood Jacobs said.
Angela Underwood Jacobs’ brother, Homeland Security Officer Patrick Underwood, was shot and killed during a George Floyd protest in Oakland.
But Jacobs, also a Republican City Councilwoman, says investing in education, jobs and housing is the path to equal justice.
“I want you as our representatives in Congress to make a change,” Jacobs said.
Republicans are expected to roll out their own police reform package later this week.