Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

9-2023

Document Type

DNP Project

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Dr. José Perez

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Dr. Richard Dool

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Dr. Karmyn Downs

Abstract

On May 25, 2020, four Minneapolis police officers reported to the location where an African American man had been accused of trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill in a convenience store. After being taken outside of the store, the man, George Floyd, was eventually placed in the back of a police patrol car, after he was handcuffed. Saying he was claustrophobic and resisting arrest, Mr. Floyd was removed from the patrol car, and placed on the ground on his stomach. One of the patrol officers, the most senior officer present, and a field training officer, placed his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, while Floyd could be heard saying that he could not breathe. Two police officers also held Mr. Floyd down while a third officer conducted traffic control. The officers did not provide any medical assistance, contrary to their training. Mr. Floyd was not later pronounced dead. This study investigated the actions of the four former Minneapolis Police Department patrol officers from an organizational leadership perspective and assessed whether police organizational systems processes, organizational culture, and the organizational leaders’ leadership practices influenced the police officers’ behavior and choices. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to investigate police officers’ perspectives of the incident that resulted in George Floyd’s death. The study provided police officers an opportunity to communicate their perspectives, including how Floyd’s death has or has not impacted the police officers’ leadership and decision-making processes.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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