The mayor of Petal, Mississippi has been met with criticism after he expressed his support for police officers following the death of George Floyd. "Why in the world would anyone choose to become a #PoliceOfficer in our society today? #backtheblue #ThinBlueLine," Mayor Hal Marx wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.
While his Twitter account has since been made inactive, presumably in response to the criticism he received, Marx said he "didn't see anything unreasonable" in the video that showed an officer with his knee on Floyd's neck. In the video, Floyd can be heard pleading for his life as he's arrested for an alleged forgery.
"Would be nice to get a few in there that understand resonable force, when it's needed, and don't give the rest of them a bad reputation," someone tweeted at Marx in response to his original tweet.
Mark replied, "If you are talking about the incident in MN, I didn't see anything unreasonable. If you can say you can't breathe, you're breathing. Most likely that man died of overdose or heat attack. Video doesn't show his resistance that got him in that position. Police being crucified."
While the original clip of Floyd's fatal arrest didn't show the moment he was placed in cuffs, surveillance video has since indicated Floyd didn't resist arrest.
"Since we don't know the full story of what happened before the video started, it's impossible to know why the police remained in that position," Marx continued. "Again, the officers were not restricting his breathing." Floyd died on Monday shortly after the video of his arrest was taken.