Officer Who Reenacted George Floyd’s Murder Banned From Teaching

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota school district has banned a police officer from working as a substitute teacher after a series of “racially harmful” actions that officials say included putting a student on the ground for a reenactment of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer.

The staffing agency that placed him at Woodbury High School said Wednesday that he also no longer works for them.

The man was serving as a substitute English teacher on Monday when he told students in four separate 10th and 12th grade classes that they might want to hear about his life as a police officer, school officials said in a letter to students, families and staff.

Besides the re-enactment of the actions that led to the death of George Floyd, students also complained that the substitute teacher “repeatedly made racially harmful comments,” “told sexist jokes,” “spoke in disturbing detail about dead bodies he had seen,” said “cops would be the best criminals” because “they know how to get away with stuff,” and “stated that police brutality isn’t real,” the letter SAID.

The letter was signed by the principal of Woodbury High School and the superintendent and assistant superintendent of the South Washington County Schools district. It said the man is now prohibited from setting foot on district property. They also said they reported the incident to the Minnesota Department of Education, the state teacher licensing board and the Woodbury Police Department.

Floyd died after a white officer pinned his neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes despite the Black man’s dying pleas of “I can’t breathe.” Children were among the concerned witnesses, including a teen who captured the incident on a video widely viewed on social media. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murder. Floyd’s death touched off protests that sometimes turned violent, testing the leadership of Gov. Tim Walz at one of the state’s most consequential moments, and sparking a nationwide reckoning over racial discrimination and police misconduct.

“I specifically want to acknowledge racial harm that occurred when the substitute teacher reenacted the prone restraint that resulted in the murder of George Floyd,” Principal Sarah Sorenson-Wanger wrote.

“This reported behavior is reprehensible. I am embarrassed, and I am sorry this happened to our students. We will take as much time as students need to…