AN autopsy found Monday that an African-American man whose death has set off nationwide unrest was suffocated by a police officer, contradicting a preliminary ruling, as cities, including New York imposed or toughened curfews in expectation of fresh fury.

Violence has erupted for three straight nights outside the White House, where a holed-up Donald Trump has brushed aside the traditional unifying role of a president, and one person was shot dead in Louisville, Kentucky, whose mayor fired the police chief.

One week after George Floyd died in Minneapolis, an autopsy blamed his videotaped death squarely on a white police officer who pinned him down with his knee for nearly nine minutes as Floyd pleaded, “I can’t breathe!”

“The evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause of death, and homicide as the manner of death,” Aleccia Wilson, a University of Michigan expert who examined his body at the family’s request, told a news conference.

An initial finding cited in a criminal complaint pointed to pre-existing conditions, outraging the family.

Shortly after the independent report, Hennepin county’s medical examiner released its official autopsy that called his death a homicide caused by “neck compression”, although it also said he was intoxicated and pointed to heart disease.

A memorial for Floyd will take place on Thursday in Minneapolis before a service in North Carolina and a funeral on June 9 in Houston, where he grew up, family lawyer Ben Crump said.

Floyd, 46, had been accused of trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit bill and his aggressive arrest was caught on a cell phone camera.

The autopsy revived demands for the arrest of three other police officers who stood guard for Chauvin as Floyd pleaded for his life.

“We are tired of this happening. This generation is not having it. We are tired of oppression,” said Muna Abdi, a 31-year-old African-American woman at a peaceful demonstration at the Minnesota capitol in St Paul.

Pointing to her three-year-old son, she said: “I want to make sure he stays alive.”

Officer Derek Chauvin, who had remained in the police force despite persistent complaints about his behaviour, had been due to appear in court yesterday but the judiciary said the initial hearing had been postponed to June 8.

The delay outraged many activists, although Minnesota has made clear that it seeks to punish Chauvin and has tasked the prosecution personally with the state’s attorney-general, Keith Ellison, a prominent former US congressman.

New York, the famed “city that never sleeps”, became the latest city to impose a night-time curfew after consecutive nights of tension that included looting and the trashing of parked cars.

In the upscale SoHo district, Elliot Kurland, owner of the Leica photography store, said his entire shop was emptied by looters including clients’ property. He estimated his loss at US$1 million  (RM4.4 million).

“I hope I have insurance,” he said.

“My brother heard about it. He called me. I had been about to come here at three o’clock in the morning. My brother warned me, ‘Don’t go down. You’ll get killed’.”

New York, like other cities, had just been emerging from weeks under lockdown from the coronavirus pandemic. Kurland said he was still paying employees who were not reporting to work. – AFP, June 2, 2020.