“I accidentally pressed the wrong voting button and realized it too late. I have changed the official record to reflect my opposition to the partisan George Floyd Policing Act,” Gooden said in a since-deleted tweet, according to
The Hill.
A later tweet from Goodsen included a record of changing his vote to no, adding that he "wouldn't support the radical left's, Anti-Police Act."
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
The
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act made it through the House of Representatives Wednesday night with a vote of 220-212, mostly along party lines. Two Democrats voted against the bill, Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.).
The police reform bill, spearheaded by Congresswoman Karen Bass, is wide-ranging and includes a number of important items:
1. lowers the criminal intent standard—from willful to knowing or reckless—to convict a law enforcement officer for misconduct in a federal prosecution,
2. limits qualified immunity as a defense to liability in a private civil action against a law enforcement officer or state correctional officer, and
3. authorizes the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas in investigations of police departments for a pattern or practice of discrimination.
4. creates a national registry—the National Police Misconduct Registry—to compile data on complaints and records of police misconduct.
5. establishes a framework to prohibit racial profiling at the federal, state and local levels.
"Never again should an unarmed individual be murdered or brutalized by someone who is supposed to serve and protect them," said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., in a statement, reports
NPR.org. "Never again should the world be subject to witnessing what we saw happen to George Floyd in the streets in Minnesota."
Floyd, the bill’s namesake, died May 25 in Minneapolis after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s pleas that he was unable to breathe. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests and some violent riots, although research indicated
93 percent of demonstrations were peaceful.
