Cop Who Killed George Floyd Has History Excessive Force

Derek Chauvin has been under heavy scrutiny from the public since he was revealed as the Minneapolis cop who killed George Floyd by pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. The tragic incident, which occurred Monday (May 25), was apparently not the first, second or third time Chauvin has been accused of using excessive force while on the job.

According to NBC News, Chauvin joined the Minneapolis Police Academy in 2001 and has been the subject of at least 12 complaints, which involve use-of-force incidents as well as a lawsuit over the alleged violation of a prisoner’s constitutional rights.

Retired officer and training expert Mylan Masson says the 12 complaints against Chauvin over the amount of time he was in the police force as “a bit higher than normal.”

According to records, in 2006, Chauvin and five other officers responded to a stabbing that led to a chase with Wayne Reyes, the alleged suspect. Reyes allegedly got out of his truck at one point with a shotgun, at which point “several officers fired multiple shots,” killing him. That same year Chauvin and seven others were named in a federal lawsuit filed by an inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Lino Lakes. The allegations in the case are unclear and it was dismissed without prejudice in 2007.

In 2008, Chauvin shot and wounded Ira Latrell Toles after responding to a domestic disturbance. During a struggle with Toles, he allegedly reached for Chauvin’s weapon before the officer fired two shots and hit Toles in the abdomen. Toles would survive the incident.

Minneapolis’ Communities United Against Police Brutality report that Chauvin has only received a handful of verbal reprimands for the complaints filed against him.

Chauvin and the three other officers involved in the killing of George Floyd were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department on Tuesday. The FBI has launched a civil rights investigation and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has also launched an investigation of its own. Additionally, President Trump says he’s launched an FBI and Department of Justice investigation into Floyd’s death, saying “justice will be served.”