Derek Chauvin arrested and charged for the murder of George Floyd

George Floyd is served justice

George+Floyd

Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Black Lives Matter

On May 25th 2020, George Floyd walked into a local convenience store in Minneapolis, Minnesota to buy a pack of cigarettes. The register of the store contacted the police due to suspicion that the bill that was handed to them was a counterfeit bill and that George Floyd was extremely drunk. Eventually officers Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane arrive at the scene getting ready to investigate and possibly detain George Floyd. Eventually Thomas Lane pulls out his gun and demands that George Floyd put his hands on the wheel. George Floyd is then forcefully hoisted out of his car by Thomas Lane and cuffed with his hands behind his back. While trying to bring George Floyd into custody, he tries several times to tell the officers that he doesn’t want to enter the cop vehicle because he is claustrophobic ,he tries to tell them that he was unable to breathe. 

Soon officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao arrive at the scene. Derek Chauvin at the time already had 17 complaints and Tou Thao had 6 on his record. After the officers forcefully tried to push George Floyd into the vehicle Derek Chauvin pulled him through the back seat and onto the ground. Three officers pin George Floyd face down into the grown Derek Chauvin on top of his neck and two other officers on his torso and legs. George Floyd told the officers that he could not breathe 16 times in the manner of five minutes. Eventually more bystanders start recording and George Floyd goes unconscious. Officers called for emergency medical assistance and even after that Derek Chauvin continued to leave his knee on George Floyds neck. Bystanders command that they check George Floyds pulse and get off of his neck because he was unconscious. Derek Chauvin did not remove his knee from George Floyds neck until EMTS arrived at the scene and directed him to do so. The ambulance carrying George Floyd pulled off due to the crowd that was forming and he eventually went into full cardiac arrest. George Floyd was pronounced dead at 9:25PM at a nearby hospital.

 Darnella Frazier, a brave 17 year old girl, was able to keep her composure and record everything that was happening to George Floyd. Soon after the video was released out to social media under the tag of #GeorgeFloyd, the video ended up blowing up worldwide. All 51 states in America held some kind of protest for George Floyd. In some cases people rioted and burnt down billion dollar corporations until justice was served. Derek Chauvin was eventually arrested and his trial began on March 29th 2021 and lasted for about a month.  After deliberating for about 10 hours over two days following an emotional trial that lasted three weeks, the jury found  Derek Chauvin, who is white, guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, on a street corner last year on Memorial Day.