DEED Offices Evacuate, Commissioner Warns There May Be A Service Time Delay In Umemployment Insurance

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As protests against the death of George Floyd continue to pop up in spots of the Twin Cities, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development offices are being evacuated.

DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said that the evacuations were the result of ongoing protests, and said that it was necessary for the safety of their team.

"This may cause a delay in service times today for unemployment insurance," he said.

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The anger and frustration over Floyd's death were sparked by cellphone footage of his Memorial Day encounter with police. The nine-minute video posted online showed a white police officer push his knee into Floyd's neck as he repeatedly told police he couldn't breathe. Floyd, 46, was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly thereafter.

Police had been called to the intersection of Chicago Avenue and East 38th Street on a report of someone trying to use a forged document at Cup Foods. Floyd resisted arrest, police said, and had a medical incident. However, video obtained by CBS News contradicts that, showing Floyd cooperating with officers, at least in the initial moments of the encounter.

On Tuesday, all four officers involved in Floyd's arrest -- Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng -- were fired. The next day, the mayor of Minneapolis called for the officer who put his knee on Floyd's neck to be criminally charged. The charging decision is now in the hands of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.