More victims speak out about abuse from ex-officer accused of killing George Floyd
During Chauvin’s 19 years in the department, there were 22 complaints and internal investigations against him. He was only reprimanded once.
Several victims of former Minnesota officer Derek Chauvin are finally speaking out.
According to The New York Times, several people who Chauvin arrested over the years say he was unnecessarily aggressive, and some of them feared for their lives.
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“I don’t have nothing against cops, I got relatives that are cops,” said Julian Hernandez, a carpenter who was arrested at a nightclub by Chauvin. “But he should have never been on the force that long.”
Hernandez said Chauvin arrested him at the El Nuevo Rodeo nightclub, where the former officer worked as a security guard when he was off duty. He said he was arrested because he tried to leave out of the wrong door, but the charges were later dropped.
Hernandez said Chauvin choked him on Feb. 15, 2015, as he was being arrested. In the police report, Chauvin claimed Hernandez had turned around while he was trying to arrest him, so he tried to restrain him “by applying pressure toward his lingual artery.”
Another victim named Zoya Code said she found herself face down with Chauvin’s knee on her neck in 2017.
“He just stayed on my neck,” said Code, who desperately pleaded for him to stop. Frustrated and upset, she challenged him to press harder. “Then he did. Just to shut me up,” she shared.
Prosecutors said Chauvin knelt on the handcuffed woman’s back “even though she was offering no physical resistance at all.” According to the reports, Chauvin told his partner to restrain Code’s ankles as well.
As he tied her down, Code remembers telling Chauvin’s partner, “You’re learning from an animal. That man — that’s evilness right there.”
Read More: Ex-Minneapolis officers to be tried separately in George Floyd trial
A judge ruled that prosecutors will be allowed to introduce details of Zoya Code’s case during Chauvin’s upcoming trial.
The prosecution sought to introduce five other cases that include Chauvin placing his knee on someone’s neck. Most of the incidents involved Black people or people of color.
During Chauvin’s 19 years in the department, there were 22 complaints and internal investigations against him. He was only reprimanded once.
Chauvin is currently in custody for his role in the death of George Floyd. He is being charged with second-degree unintentional murder.
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