Today in History: May 25, Police Kill George Floyd | News

Today in history

Today is Thursday, May 25, the 146th day of the year 2024. There are 220 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight of the story:

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes while he was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death, captured on video by a bystander, sparked worldwide protests, some of which turned violent, and a reassessment of racism and policing in the United States.

On this date:

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had appeared to form a quorum.

In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom with the appointment of Abdullah I.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy told Congress: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving, before the end of this decade, the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which had been closed by the government to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

In 1968, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.

In 1977, the first “Star Wars” film was released by 20th Century Fox.

In 1979, 273 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

In 2008, NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water. The spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.

In 2011, a Salt Lake City judge sentenced street preacher Brian David Mitchell to life in prison for the kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 years old at the time of her abduction in 2002.

In 2012, the private company SpaceX made history when its Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station.

In 2016, actor Johnny Depp’s wife, Amber Heard, filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences after 15 months of marriage.

In 2018, Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape and another sex crime in New York, the first trial to result from the wave of allegations against him. (Weinstein was found guilty on two counts in 2020, but an appeals court overturned the verdict in 2024.)

In 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, the gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school a day earlier, had warned in online messages minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and was going to shoot at a school.

Birthdays today: Actress Ann Robinson is 95. Former White House news anchor Ron Nessen is 90. Actor Sir Ian McKellen is 85. Country singer Jessi Colter is 81. Actor and singer Leslie Uggams is 81. Film director and Muppet artist Frank Oz is 80. Actress Karen Valentine is 77. Actor Jacki Weaver is 77. Rock singer Klaus Meine (The Scorpions) is 76. Actress Patti D’Arbanville is 73. Playwright Eve Ensler is 71. Musician Cindy Cashdollar is 69. Actress Connie Sellecca is 69. Rock singer and musician Paul Weller is 66. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat from Minnesota, is 64. Actor and comedian Mike Myers is 61. Actor Matt Borlenghi is 57. Actor Joseph Reitman is 56. Rock musician Glen Drover is 55. Actors Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush (TV: “Little House on the Prairie”) are 54. Actor and comedian Jamie Kennedy is 54. Actor Octavia Spencer is 54. Actor Justin Henry is 53. Rapper Daz Dillinger is 51. Actress Molly Sims is 51. Actress Erinn Hayes is 48. Actor Cillian Murphy is 48. Actor Ethan Suplee (soo-PLEE’) is 48. Rock musician Todd Whitener is 46. Actor Corbin Allred is 45. Actress and singer Lauren Frost is 39. Actress Ebonee Noel is 34. Musician Guy Lawrence (Disclosure) is 33. Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics Aly Raisman is 30.

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