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New Jersey community holds second protest after first ended in racialized, national tension

Updated  June 14, 2020 7:17am EDT
Death of George Floyd
FOX 29 Philadelphia

New Jersey community holds second protest after first ended in racialized, national tension

FOX 29's Kelly Rule has the story.

FRANKLINVILLE, N.J. - While a rural Gloucester County, New Jersey community works to recover from Monday’s racialized incident that put the small town on the spot nationally and internationally, organizers rallied community members to participate in a second peaceful protest.

Protestors gathered at 11 a.m. at Franklin Township’s main circle where the community center and library conjoin in Franklinville. 

It has been less than one full month since George Floyd's violent death on May 25, which has sparked a nationwide movement in response to the viral footage of the police brutality that arguably led to Floyd's death. 

RELATED COVERAGE: DEATH OF GEORGE FLOYD

By the hundreds, local community members and those from around the nation flooded Route 47 (also known by locals as Delsea Drive) to march from the Franklin Township's center -- where the library, community center exist nearest to the Franklinville Skating Rink, the Franklinville Lake, the Franklinville Inn, the Franklinville Fire Department, the Franklinville Police Department, and a Wawa convenience store. 

The Wawa (although a regional cultural, powerhouse along the Atlantic Eastern Seaboard) is also locally known as the "Franklinville Wawa". 

During the first peaceful protest, organized by alumni and current student body of the Black demographic of Delsea Regional High School, two local brothers that have connections to local law enforcement and the economy, made a mockery of the death of George Floyd. 

In several videos of different perspctives, two brothers later, identified as the DeMarco brothers, were filmed shouting at the peaceful protesters from the side of the roadway and displaying signs that read "All Lives Matter."

One man shouting at the peaceful protesters and their police escort is kneeling on another person's neck, in an echo of the way George Floyd spent his final moments of life.

In a second video from the incident, the man kneeling can be heard shouting, "You don't comply, that's what happens."

The peaceful protest was organized to advocate for justice for George Floyd and show solidarity with other national movements seeking to honor his memory.

Floyd's death while in the custody of Minneapolis Police on Memorial Day sparked international movements denouncing police brutality and calling for reforms.

Simmons told FOX 29 that peaceful protesters were marching from the community center to the police station to demonstrate the need for meaningful change.

According to multiple sources in town, the men are the DeMarco brothers, Jim and Joe, who are township residents.

There was no answer at the home of Jim DeMarco when FOX 29's Jeff Cole knocked on Tuesday, and the mother of the men said Joe wasn’t available but defended her sons.

 "My sons are good people, come from a good family," she said. Cole asked, "Would they have done this?" She replied, "You have to ask them I would have no idea what they would do."

She declined to look at the video and argued if it was her sons they were in “support” of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

"The Franklin Township Committee and the Franklin Township Police Department are appalled and saddened by the revolting actions of certain individuals after Monday’s locally organized peaceful march. This is not who we are as a Community. We support the goal of this march, which is to spread awareness and to ensure a better future for all of us. Without an understanding and mutual respect for all individuals, we can never aspire to create a united community based upon the idea of human respect and dignity for all," the township committee and police department said in a statement Tuesday.

Impassioned citizens have since taken to the streets in Minneapolis, where the incident originated, and dozens of other US cities nationwide in a show of solidarity to demand justice. 

According to the charges filed against against the officers, Lane and Kueng helped Chauvin hold Floyd down while Thao stood nearby. Floyd told the officers, “I can’t breathe” multiple times. He repeatedly said “mama” and “please" and said, "I'm about to die", but the officers did not move from their positions. 

At one point, Lane asked, “Should we roll him on his side?” and Chauvin said no. Floyd eventually appeared to stop breathing or speaking. Kueng checked his pulse and found none, but none of the officers moved until the ambulance arrived a few minutes later.

Following Floyd’s death, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo fired all four officers involved.

Charges against ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin were formally upgraded Thursday in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin is now charged with second-degree murder without intent, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. With the upgraded murder charge, his bail has been upped from $500,000 to $1 million.

As of June 4, three other officers -- Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng -- were charge with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. 

The full report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner remains pending, but preliminary findings from George Floyd’s autopsy revealed he likely died from a combination of underlying health conditions. 

Any potential intoxicants in his system and being restrained by police were also attributed in the preliminary medically forensic investigation into the cause of his death, according to the charges. There was no physical evidence that he died of asphyxia of strangulation. 

“Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous,” the charges say. 

Floyd's underlying health conditions included coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease.

Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was formally charged Friday in the death of George Floyd, but many citizens say that the other officers involved need to be arrested and that Floyd's death deserves meaningful change to policing practices in the United States.

Chauvin was seen in a video kneeling on George Floyd’s neck as Floyd repeatedly says, “I can’t breathe.” The officer continued to press his knee onto Floyd’s neck even after he lost consciousness. None of the other officers at the scene attempted to check on Floyd until after the ambulance arrived, despite bystanders’ pleas.

So far, he has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. 

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