The former Minneapolis police officer who was captured in real time kneeling on George Floyd’s neck until he suffocated and died, reportedly did similar things to six other arrestees in the last five years.
Past victims’ testimonies paint unflattering portraits of Chauvin and the Minneapolis Police Department. Three of the victims who were interviewed by the Marshall Project bespeak of a callous cop who quickly resorted to brutality and violence to subdue subjects without any regard to the pain and suffering he inflicted. Of the six victims, two were Black, one was Latino, one was Native American while the two others’ identities were never revealed.
According to the New York Times, one female arrestee spoke of when Chauvin came to her home to referee a domestic violence situation. Once Chauvin had Zoya Code in handcuffs, he knelt on her without relent.
“He just stayed on my neck,” Code said as he ignored her desperate pleas to get off. Irate, Code challenged him to press harder. “Then he did. Just to shut me up,” she added according to the Times.
The judge said these victims’ testimonies will be allowed to be introduced in the upcoming trial to illustrate Chauvin’s longtime modus operandi during his violent interaction with the public, mostly minorities. Though he was the subject of 22 complaints and internal investigations during his 19-year career, Chauvin avoided any discipline for any of them except one.
Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck on Memorial Day 2020 for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, long after the last breath expelled out of Floyd. It ignited an uprising during the summer of 2020 with protests and marches in most major cities nationwide and several around the world.
Chauvin has since been terminated and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
