A FedEx employee has been fired after he and another individual were seen in video footage imitating and mocking the police killing of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who was killed after fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck. In a tweet Tuesday, the company announced that the man in question, whose identity has not been confirmed, “is no longer employed by FedEx.”
FedEx holds its team members to a high standard of personal conduct, and we do not tolerate the kind of appalling and offensive behavior depicted in this video. The individual involved is no longer employed by FedEx. We stand with those who support justice and equality.
— FedEx (@FedEx) June 9, 2020
In a statement to Newsweek, FedEx called the video “appalling and offensive” and confirmed that the individual “was immediately removed from all FedEx work duties while our investigation is concluded and all internal procedures are followed.” The statement added that “a diverse and inclusive workforce is at the heart of our business.” FedEx said it stands “with those who support justice and equality.”
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On Tuesday, the New Jersey Department of Corrections announced that the second man in the video, who worked for the department as a corrections officer and was not identified by name, had been suspended. In a statement to its Facebook page that called the video “hateful and disappointing,” the department wrote that an “individual has been suspended from their post and banned from NJDOC facilities pending a thorough and expedited investigation.”
According to USA Today, NJDOC spokeswoman Liz Velez later confirmed that the individual is a “senior corrections police officer” who was hired in March 2002 and worked at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown until January 2019. He currently works at the Bayside Correctional Facility in Maurice River Township.
The disciplinary actions come after the two men were seen in video that surfaced on Twitter Monday reenacting Floyd’s death. In the video, one man is seen lying on the ground as a second man kneels on his neck yelling, “This is what happens – comply with the cops. He’s dead because he didn’t comply,” as a police-escorted Black Lives Matter protest passed by in Franklin Township, New Jersey.
Floyd, 46, was killed on May 25 after Chauvin, a 19-year veteran, knelt on his neck for a total of eight minutes and 46 seconds. During that time, Floyd could be heard saying, “I can’t breathe,” several times before he fell unconscious, at which point Chauvin continued to kneel on his neck. His death has sparked global protests against systemic racism and police brutality, and all four officers involved in the incident have since been arrested and charged.
