Chauvin Found Guilty, Taken into Custody

Bail revoked for Former Police Officer Derek Chauvin and He was Taken Into custody

As much of the world looked on, former Minneapolis Officer was handcuffed and taken into custody Tuesday after a diverse jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts in the death of George Floyd.

It was a pivotal moment in U.S. history.

George Floyd, a Black man whose death last May in police custody was captured on video that went viral and set off a summer of unrest over law enforcement’s treatment of people of color.

Chauvin, 45, was found guilty of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was remanded to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office.

Prosecutors used as the foundation for their case a cellphone video that surfaced a day after the May 25, 2020 killing. It showed Floyd handcuffed and facedown in the street as former officer Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. Floyd repeatedly pleaded for his life, called out to his mother and eventually passed out. Police were responding to a report that Floyd had used an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill to purchase a pack of cigarettes.

Prosecutors were under considerable pressure from activists and politicians to win a murder conviction in the case, even though such verdicts against police officers are rare.

The trial played out on live television and the internet before millions of viewers, amid an atmosphere fraught with racial tensions. Live-streaming a criminal trial is unprecedented in Minnesota.

The technique used to subdue Floyd was the focal point of the trial. Floyd is among dozens of suspects and inmates over the years who died in custody after authorities kept them restrained on the ground facedown, according to the Wall Street Journal.

No other fatal incident involving a prone restraint ever led to the serious charges leveled after Mr. Floyd’s death, much less resulted in a criminal conviction of officers involved, according to researchers tracking police prosecutions. Brutality cases against officers over prone restraints are almost always battled in civil court, with wrongful-death lawsuits that sometimes resulted in negotiated settlement payouts.

The ACLU issued the following statement following the verdict: “While this verdict is a small gain for police accountability and may help provide some semblance of justice to a grieving community, the systems that allowed a police officer to take Mr. Floyd’s life remain fully intact. Because of those racist systems, George Floyd will never make his way home to play games with his daughter, Gianna. He’ll never go on walks through the park with his beloved fiancée, Courteney, or play basketball with his brother, Philonise.

National Nurses United welcomed the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the brutal murder of George Floyd last May, adding that more work is needed on racial justice, including in policing practices.

“We hope this verdict will send a message about the importance of holding police officers accountable for terrifying acts of police violence and misconduct. We also recognize that this decision would not have been possible without the outpouring of millions of Americans demanding justice following the murder of George Floyd,” said NNU President Jean Ross, RN.

“We know this was just one case; there are so many more where there was no accountability or justice: Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Philando Castile, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and so many others whose names are seared in our memories of destroyed lives, wounded families, and traumatized communities,” said Zenei Cortez, RN, also NNU president. “More is clearly needed to protect public health and safety, especially for Black and Brown communities who are enduring disproportionate harm.”

“As nurses, we know that racism is a public health crisis,” said NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN. “We have seen the impact of racism on the lives of communities of color during the pandemic — from the disproportionate deaths of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people due to Covid-19 to the recent xenophobic attacks against Asians. We have a duty to speak out to end the suffering caused by an out-of-control system of policing and to demand transformational changes in policing practices.”

Chauvin is expected to be sentenced in eight weeks. He faces up to 40 years in prison.