“Mr. Floyd died in our hands and so I see that as being complicit,” Chief Medaria Arradondo told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “Silence and inaction, you’re complicit. If there was one solitary voice that would have intervened … that’s what I would have hoped for.”

But no one intervened Monday evening as 46-year-old Floyd begged for his life while ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin remained kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked protests across the country, with thousands echoing some of the man’s final words, “I can’t breathe.” Some of those demonstrations were peaceful, while others ended in flames, widespread looting, damages and hundreds of arrests as well as injuries…

Arradondo called the killing a “violation of humanity,” and said he didn’t need any more time than what he had to remove the officers from their duties.

“There are absolute truths in life; we need air to breathe,” the chief said. “The killing of Mr. Floyd was an absolute truth that it was wrong.”