HOUSTON – Texans Star JJ Watt expressed his disgust of the video showing a white male officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for several minutes before Floyd’s death.
Floyd, 45, died Monday night after a white officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. A bystander’s video showed him pleading and groaning that he could not breathe as the officer knelt on his neck. The officer is seen in the video ignoring his pleas. Police said Floyd matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case at a grocery store and that he resisted arrest.
Watt said he watched the video and was disgusted and said there is no way to defend the officer’s behavior.
“I’ve seen the video and I think it’s disgusting,” Watt said in a Zoom interview. “There’s no explanation for it. To me, it doesn’t make any sense. I just don’t see how a man in handcuffs, on the ground who is clearly detained and clearly saying in distress.”
“I just don’t see how a man in handcuffs on the ground, who is clearly detained and clearly in distress, I don’t understand how that situation can’t be remedied in a way that doesn’t end in his death,” Watt said.
Watt said he doesn’t understand how you can defend the video.
“I think that it needs to be addressed strongly, obviously, and I just don’t see how that situation makes any sense whatsoever, and I think that anybody who saw the video, anybody who – I don’t know how you can defend it,” he said. "I mean, it’s terrible. It’s extremely difficult to watch and it’s upsetting. So, I just – I don’t understand it.”