A sign outside an east Alabama gun store mocking the death of George Floyd was shared widely on social media this weekend.
‘Congratulations to George Floyd on 2 years of sobriety,’ the sign outside Leesburg Guns stated.
The store is owned by Dr. Roger Nichols, a Cherokee County commissioner and veterinarian. A message left for him by AL.com was not immediately returned.
NBC13 went to the shop this week and the sign had been replaced with one that read, “Ya know what protects the 1st Amendment? The 2nd!” A reporter for the station said they were turned away by employees at his veterinary clinic.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was handcuffed and facedown, died when former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes on the street on May 25, 2020.
Chauvin was convicted of murder in state court and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison. Three other former Minneapolis police officers were convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Floyd had an addiction to painkillers, and prosecutors addressed in Chauvin’s trial it by calling his girlfriend Courteney Ross to the stand. Ross described addiction as a “lifelong struggle” for her, one that Floyd shared throughout their relationship.
An autopsy found methamphetamine and fentanyl in Floyd’s system at the time of his death.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher reminded jurors at Chauvin’s trial that prosecution witnesses with expertise in lungs, heart, and emergency medicine all agreed that Floyd did not die of an overdose or because of his drug use.
