WASHINGTON — Goerge Floy's cousin spoke with WUSA9 on Saturday during protests that mark eight days of calls for the stop to social injustice and police brutality in the African American community.
Tangela Hamilton, originally from Houston but lives in Maryland, says she recently found out through her family that George Floyd is a distant cousin.
Hamilton shared that she has been part of group messages via Facebook and that her family has been active about communicating in the wake of her cousin’s death. These group messages are where she found out that the two are related.
From families to medical professionals, tens of thousands marched in D.C. Saturday.
The demonstrations in the Nation's Capital come as hundreds of protests have been seen across the U.S. in response to Floyd's death.
Floyd died when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on his neck for nine minutes. Three other officers in the city have been charged in connection with Floyd's death.
Chauvin faces a second-degree murder charge, while the other three officers, Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, face charges for aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
All four officers were fired by Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo the day after the video of the fatal encounter surfaced on social media.