Gianna Floyd shares heartbreaking message during Derek Chauvin’s sentencing

MINNEAPOLIS- The 7-year-old daughter of George Floyd shared a heartbreaking message that played during the sentencing hearing of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin.

"I ask about him all the time," Gianna Floyd said of her late father in a video impact statement that played ahead of Chauvin’s sentencing. "Those mean people did something to him... I miss you and I love you."

Gianna FloydKEREM YUCEL/ AFP via Getty Images

Gianna’s father, George Floyd, died on May 25, 2020, after former officer Derek Chauvin aggressively held him to the ground and pressed his knee on his neck even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly cried out that he could not breathe. Chauvin was then convicted of second-degree unintentional murder and other charges in Floyd’s death.

Gianna Floyd said in the victim impact statement that she believed her dad was still with her in spirit and that she wants to know how he got hurt.

"Do you wish that he was still here with us?" a woman asks Gianna Floyd in the video, to which she replied: "Yeah, but he is."

She had a lengthy list of things she would still have liked to do with her father. "I want to play with him, have fun, go on a plane ride."

George Floyd's nephew Brandon Williams also said: "Our family is forever broken." And George Floyd's 7-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a video played in court, said that if she could say something to her father now, it would be: "I miss you and and I love you."

Chauvin, 45, faced a potential decades-long sentence, with some legal experts making predictions of 20 to 25 years. Chauvin is also awaiting trial on federal civil rights charges in Floyd's death, along with three other fired officers who have yet to have their state trials.

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Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for up to 9 1/2 minutes as he gasped for air and stated multiple times that he couldn’t breathe before suddenly going limp.

George Floyd's death on May 25, 2020, sparked widespread anger after millions of people watched the devastating video of Floyd’s murder. 

The four officers at the scene were quickly fired and charged in his death. The saddening bystander video shows Floyd repeatedly crying "I can't breathe" and eventually going still as Chauvin continued to press his knee on Floyd's neck.

The video's release sparked immediate protests and violent riots nationwide and around the world.

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