"He Did Exactly What He Was Trained To Do": Officer Derek Chauvin on Trial
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Posted By: Kennedy Williams on March 30, 2021 On May 25th, 2020, George Perry Floyd Jr. was confronted by police officers after a store clerk alleged that he used a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. Derek Chauvin was one of four officers that responded to the call. While trying to make the arrest, Floyd, who was unarmed, was thrown to the ground and handcuffed when Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck and kept it there for a total of 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd repeatedly made it clear that he was struggling to breathe and even called out for his deceased mother. Chauvin refused to let up and continued to kneel on Mr. Floyd until he died lying on the pavement. Even though his knee was on George Floyd’s neck when he died, Derek Chauvin was not immediately arrested or charged for the murder. It was not until May 29th, after public outcry and several nationwide protests, that Chauvin was finally arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On March 29, 2021, Chauvin’s murder trial began. In the defense’s opening statement, Chauvin’s attorneys maintained that their client is not guilty and argued that it was not the officer's actions that led to the death of Mr. Floyd, but an unfortunate bodily reaction due to a combination of controlled substances that Floyd had taken prior to the incident. One of Chauvin’s attorneys Eric Nelson, even went as far as saying while addressing the jury, “You will learn, that Derek Chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19-year career…The use of force is not attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing.” Today was Day 2 of the trial, and the witness testimony was both riveting and completely heartbreaking. The witnesses that took the stand described Floyd as “terrified, scared, and begging for his life” and said that even after Floyd became nonresponsive, they “watched police officers not take a pulse and not do anything to save a man.” A Minneapolis firefighter even testified that once she arrived on the scene, officers prevented her from trying to help Mr. Floyd and told her something along the lines of “if you really are a Minneapolis firefighter, you would know better than to get involved.” The fact that Nelson felt that saying Chauvin did "exactly what he was trained to do" would serve as an adequate defense shows just why so many in the Black community tend to distrust police officers. By saying a white police officer is not guilty of killing an unarmed Black man in broad daylight because he did what he had been "trained to do" suggests a vicious culture of aggression and total disregard for Black lives that is taught in the police force. As much as we would love to say that there is absolutely no way Chauvin will get away with murdering this unarmed Black man, we, unfortunately, are very aware of the country we are living in and know all too well that the so-called justice system is not always just. We hope and pray that justice is served and that Chauvin pays for his crime. We’ll be watching. The world will be watching. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Kennedy Williams
From Loganville, GA Spelman College class of 2020 Member Since July 2016 |
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