The US state of Minnesota has filed a civil rights charge against the Minneapolis Police Department over the death of African American man George Floyd in the custody of four officers.
Governor Tim Walz said his state’s Department of Human Rights had already begun its investigation into the incident, which saw now-former police officer Derek Chauvin hold his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes.
Onlookers filming the incident pleaded with the officers to stop as Mr Floyd begged Mr Chauvin to remove his knee, repeatedly telling him "I can't breathe".
Mr Chauvin has since been arrested and charged with third degree murder and manslaughter, but no legal action has been taken against his three colleagues, two of whom were also filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd at one point.
“Silence is complicity. Minnesotans can expect our administration to use every tool at our disposal to deconstruct generations of systemic racism in our state,” Mr Walz said.
"This effort is only one of many steps to come in our effort to restore trust with those in the community who have been unseen and unheard for far too long."
Eight consecutive days and nights of protests against police brutality and racism have dominated major US cities from coast to coast since Mr Floyd's death, constituting the largest nationwide demonstrations since the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior in 1968.
The governor said the Minnesota Department of Human Rights would investigate the police department's policies, procedures and practises from the past decade to determine whether systemic discriminatory practices against people of colour exist.
Peaceful protests in George Floyd's hometown of Houston. Source: AP
The state urged residents with any information about police discrimination to come forward and give evidence to the investigation.
“The grief and anger of this past week did not emerge from a vacuum. This is about a culture that continues to go unchecked," Minnesota's Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan said.
"We can and must choose to do better. George Floyd, and the state as a whole, deserves this of us.”
While Mr Chauvin is yet to face court, two separate autopsies have already ruled Mr Floyd's death a homicide.
An independent autopsy ordered by the Floyd family found the 46-year-old's death was caused by “mechanical asphyxia" as a result of the pressure on his neck and back.
Miami protestors march holding up placards and chanting slogans during a rally in response to the death of George Floyd. Source: AFP
Hours later, Hennepin County's medical examiner revised their initial findings, ruling the cause of death a "cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by law enforcement subdual restraint and neck compression".
Mr Chauvin is due to face court on 8 June.
