Mom of Floyd's Daughter Told Her: 'He Couldn't Breathe'

6-year-old Gianna Floyd: 'Daddy changed the world!'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2020 9:03 AM CDT
George Floyd's Daughter: 'Daddy Changed the World!'
Roxie Washington stands behind Gianna Floyd, the daughter of George Floyd, at a news conference, Tuesday in Minneapolis.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The mother of George Floyd's young daughter spoke out Tuesday, demanding "justice" for Floyd and for 6-year-old Gianna. "He was good, and this is the proof that he was a good man," Roxie Washington said at a news conference in Minneapolis, gesturing toward Gianna. She tells CNN she didn't know how to break the news of Floyd's death to her daughter, but the youngster kept hearing her dad's name on TV. When Washington told her he'd died, Gianna wanted to know how. "The only thing I could tell her is he couldn't breathe," Washington says. The attorneys who accompanied Washington to the presser say they wanted to bring the girl to the event so the world could "see the beauty of Gianna" and leave the public with a different image of Floyd than the one they've been seeing splashed across the media.

Washington says Floyd had moved from Houston to Minneapolis to seek a better job. He'd found employment with the Salvation Army, as well as driving a truck and working as a security guard at a nightclub, per USA Today. Meanwhile, the Evening Standard reports that a video has emerged of Gianna perched on the shoulders of former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who grew up with Floyd in Houston. Floyd played basketball for South Florida State College, while Jackson went on to play for the NBA for 14 seasons. "Daddy changed the world!" Gianna exclaims in the clip. Jackson says he plans to fill in as a father figure for Gianna. "There's a lot of stuff you said that he's gonna miss, that I'm gonna be there for," Jackson told Washington at the presser. "I'm gonna walk her down the aisle. ... I'm gonna be here for you and Gigi." (More George Floyd stories.)

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