RES-2020-035 Resolution Denouncing the murder of George Floyd and addressing the Health Director's Declaration of Structural Racism as a Public Health Crisis in Orange County

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RES - 2020 - 035 A RESOLUTION DENOUNCING THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND ADDRESSING THE HEALTH DIRECTOR' S DECLARATION OF STRUCTURAL RACISM AS A " PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS" IN ORANGE COUNTY Whereas , in July 2014 , a Black man , Eric Garner , alleged to have committed a petty crime , had a police officer place his arm across his neck, was wrestled to the ground and , with a number of police officer restraining him , cried out eleven times , " I can ' t breathe " while lying face down on the sidewalk before losing consciousness without assistance for seven minutes ; and Whereas , in May 2020 , a Black man , George Floyd , alleged to have a counterfeit $ 20 bill in his possession was dragged from his car by a police officer, handcuffed , and put face down on the street with the officer' s knee in his neck as he called out , " I can ' t breathe " , and as his neck and back sustained pressure over a period of more than eight minutes , the last two minutes and 53 seconds of which he was unresponsive , oxygen was cut off to his brain as he slowly asphyxiated ; and Whereas , the Mapping Police Violence found that although Black people were only 13 % of the population in the United States , they represented 24 % of the people killed by law enforcement and were three times more likely to be killed by police than white people ( and Hispanic people were 3 . 8 times more likely to be killed ) ; and Whereas , the Mapping Police Violence Pr2i - ct also found that 99 % of the killings by police officers did not result in the officer being charged with a crime because in many cases police officers have " qualified immunity" ; and Whereas , Black people have been killed across this country in cases that have come to public attention they have been shot and killed for doing the ordinary things of life that have resulted in their harassment , detention , restraint and even death where the perpetrators where not held accountable , including the deaths of 12 year old Tamir Rice , killed by a police while playing at a playground near his home ; teenage Trayvon Martin , shot and killed while walking home with a bag of Skittles ; school cafeteria worker Philando Castile , killed during a police stop while a passenger in the car with his girlfriend and 4 -year old daughter , Sandra Bland , jailed for an alleged unsafe lane change and then later found hanging in her jail cell ; EMT Breonna Taylor, shot 8 times after police wrongly barged into her apartment ; Atatiana Jefferson , killed while babysitting her nephew at her mother' s house ; accountant Botham Jean , killed while sitting in his living room watching television and eating ice cream ; Freddie Gray, died while unrestrained and helpless in the back of a police van ; and Ahmaud Arbery, shot and killed while jogging down a neighborhood street ; and Whereas , a 2018 Study found that police killings of unarmed Black Americans has had an adverse effect on the mental health of Black Americans in the general population as shown by the death of Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, who fought unsuccessfully to hold police responsible for her father ' s death , died of a heart attack at the age of 27 ; 1 1