US protests: Florida officer on leave after kneeling on man's neck

A Florida police officer has been placed on leave after video showed him pressing his knee into the neck of a black man a week before George Floyd's death. Photo / Supplied

A Florida police officer has been placed on leave with an inquiry pending after video footage showed him kneeling on a man's neck the week before George Floyd died.

Video shot by a bystander shows two Sarasota officers holding down Patrick Carroll, 27, as they arrested him May 18 on domestic violence charges for allegedly attacking a woman by pulling her hair, striking her and throwing her to the ground.

The video shows an officer kneeling on the man as another handcuffs him and a third officer stands nearby. Sarasota Police Deputy Chief Patrick Robinson said the knee to the neck technique is "not something that we train".

"It's not something that we authorise and it's not something that we stand behind," he said.

WATCH: A Sarasota police officer is on leave and under investigation after video surfaced showing him with his knee apparently on a man's neck. https://t.co/D6eH4xMdV0 pic.twitter.com/digQMBWUUQ

— Spectrum Bay News 9 (@BN9) June 2, 2020

More than 140 cities in the US and many more across Europe and around the world have seen people take to the streets to march against racial injustice and police brutality after the death of George Floyd, 46, a black man, at the hands of a white police officer.

Mourners in Minneapolis have joined a vigil for George Floyd at North Central University where civil rights leader Al Sharpton gave a eulogy.

"He was a human being. He had family, he had dreams, he had hopes. The real duty of one with this type of assignment is to underscore the value of the human life that was taken, which gives the reason the movement was occurring," Sharpton said.

A golden casket was surrounded by flowers inside the venue which holds 1000 but only had 500 inside due to coronavirus restrictions.

Memorials will take place in Raeford, North Carolina and Houston, Texas over the next few days.