Teen wins special Pulitzer award for ‘courageously recording’ George Floyd’s death

Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the death of George Floyd in May 2020, has been awarded a special Pulitzer Prize, the board announced Friday.

Frazier received a special citation for “courageously recording the murder” of Floyd, which “spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice,” the Pulitzer website states.

Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died while in police custody, and his death sparked protests across the nation. He died after Derek Chauvin, a now-convicted former Minneapolis police officer, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, as three other officers didn’t intervene.

Frazier, now 18, recorded video of Floyd being pinned to the ground. Her 10-minute video shows Floyd becoming unconscious. Floyd later died at an area hospital, according to police.

Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in April and is scheduled to be sentenced June 25.

“I was only 17 at the time, just a normal day for me walking my 9-year-old cousin to the corner store, not even prepared for what I was about to see, not even knowing my life was going to change on this exact day in those exact moments… it did,” Frazier wrote on Instagram on May 25, the anniversary of Floyd’s death. “It changed me. It changed how I viewed life. It made me realize how dangerous it is to be Black in America.”

Frazier testified during Chauvin’s trial in April and said she regretted not doing more during Floyd’s death but that the police officers were ultimately at fault, The New York Times reported.

“It’s been nights I stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life,” Frazier said, according to the publication. Referring to Chauvin, she said, “but it’s like, it’s not what I should have done, it’s what he should have done.”

Frazier’s video also contradicted the account of Minneapolis police, which said the police officers “noted (Floyd) appeared to be suffering medical distress” after they handcuffed Floyd, The Washington Post reported.

Legal analyst Sunny Hostin said Frazier’s video was “the strongest piece of evidence I have ever seen in a case against a police officer.”

The Pulitzer Prize was created in 1917 in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University. The journalism awards seek to honor “the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by any American newspaper during the preceding year.”

There are 21 categories total and the winners of the prizes, except for the Public Service category, receive a $15,000 award.

‘THANK YOU GOD’: Darnella Frazier, who filmed George Floyd’s death, reacts to verdict

Teen who took George Floyd video to receive award. ‘Changed the course of history’

Teen who recorded George Floyd video says she’s being harassed online