A SEPARATE CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATION INTO GEORGE
FLOYD’S DEATH, MIKA.
>> FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
OFFICER DEREK CHAUVIN IS NOW IN
A 23-HOUR-A-DAY SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT AFTER BEING LED OUT
OF COURT IN HANDCUFFS ON TUESDAY
FOLLOWING HIS CONVICTION FOR THE
MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD.
THE 45-YEAR-OLD FACES 40 YEARS
IN PRISON FOR KNEELING ON
FLOYD’S NECK FOR NINE AND A HALF
MINUTES.
A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE MAXIMUM
SECURITY FACILITY SAYS CHAUVIN
IS BEING KEPT IN AN ISOLATED
WING FOR HIS OWN SAFETY.
>> GENE, YOU KNOW, IT’S BEEN,
THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS, TV
PUNDITS AND SOME POLITICIANS
HAVE GOTTEN CRED.
THE BEST WAY TO GET CRED WITH
THE FAR LEFT IS TO SAY, OH, THIS
MEANT NOTHING.
THIS WAS NOT A VICTORY.
IN FACT, THIS WAS A DEFEAT!
THIS IS HORRIBLE!
THIS IS -- I MEAN, IT JUST, IT
DENIES THE FACT ACTUALLY HOW
QUICKLY THE JURY WAS OUT AND HOW
QUICKLY THEY CAME BACK IN.
DENIES THE FACT THAT LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TESTIFIED
AGAINST ANOTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICER IN A WAY THAT I BELIEVE
IS HISTORIC IN THESE TYPE OF
HIGH-PROFILE CASES.
BUT I THOUGHT THAT YOUR -- I
THOUGHT THAT YOUR OP-ED, I WAS
VERY MOVED BY IT.
I WAS VERY MOVED BY YOUR OP-ED
COMING INTO THIS, BECAUSE I WAS
VERY NERVOUS THAT THERE MIGHT
NOT BE A GUILTY VERDICT.
AND YOU WROTE -- THOUGH THE
EXPERIENCE WAS SO MUCH MORE
PERSONAL, I STILL FELT LIKE YOU
WERE KIND OF WRITING MY CONCERNS
WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, TELLING THE
MEDIA, STOP SAYING THIS IS A
DONE DEAL.
THIS MAY NOT BE A DONE DEAL.
AND THEN WHAT YOU WROTE A COUPLE
OF DAYS AGO, I THOUGHT WAS
BEAUTIFUL.
WHICH IS, YOU KNOW WHAT, THIS
SHOULDN’T FEEL LIKE A VICTORY.
THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO
EVERYBODY THAT THIS WAS GOING TO
HAPPEN.
BUT IT WASN’T OBVIOUS.
SO, YES, IT DOES KIND OF FEEL
LIKE A VICTORY.
TALK ABOUT YOUR EMOTIONS, AS YOU
WERE GOING THROUGH THIS AND WHAT
YOU WROTE ABOUT IN "THE POST" SO
MOVINGLY YESTERDAY.
>> WELL, YOU KNOW, LOOK AT THE
CASE ITSELF, THE MURDER ITSELF,
YOU KNOW, NINE9 MINUTES AND 29
SECONDS, CAUGHT ON VIDEO, FROM
MULTIPLE ANGLES, THE MOST
STRIKING BEING THE ANGLE FILMED
BY DARNELLA FRASER, THE PASSERBY
WHO HAD THE PRESENCE OF MIND TO
JUST HIT RECORD.
AND YOU KNOW, YOU THINK ABOUT
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED HAD SHE
NOT DONE THAT.
YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT THE INITIAL
POLICE DEPARTMENT’S STATEMENT
ABOUT GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH WAS,
WHICH WAS THAT, YOU KNOW, A
SUSPECT WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY
AND WAS IN MEDICAL DISTRESS AND
DIED AND NO ONE FIRED A WEAPON.
THAT IS WHAT THEY SAID.
THAT IS HOW THEY DESCRIBED IT.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, I THOUGHT OF
ALL THE TIMES BEFORE WHEN POLICE
OFFICER S USED EXCESSIVE AND
DEADLY FORCE AGAINST
AFRICAN-AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY,
AND OTHERS AS WELL, BUT THOSE
OFFICERS WERE GIVEN MORE THAN
THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.
THEY WERE GIVEN WHAT AMOUNTED TO
A FREE PASS.
AND ACQUITTED AND YOU
COULDN’T -- I COULDN’T GET ALL
OF THAT OUT OF MY MIND. AND SO EVEN IN THIS MOST OBVIOUS
AND SO EVEN IN THIS MOST OBVIOUS
OF CASES, TO ME, WOULD THE
JURORS SEE WHAT THE REST OF US
SAW SO CLEARLY.
AND SO, YES, IT FEELS, IT FEELS