Several people are sharing their violent run-ins with former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin ahead of his murder trial for the killing of George Floyd.
According to NBC News, back in 2013, Minneapolis police pulled LaSean Braddock over as he drove home from working a double shift at Hennepin County Medical Center. He said that he was used to being stopped by the police because his identity had been stolen and he was often mistaken for the man who was illegally using his name. He kept paperwork from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as proof. Once Braddock handed the papers to the officer on his driver’s side, the cop immediately stuffed them in his pocket without looking.
Once Braddock hesitated to exit his vehicle, the officer violently hit his driver’s side window with his flashlight. The two officers then tried to pull him out of his car before he got out on his own. “Then they tried to slam me on the ground, but I was about 240 pounds,” he said. “Then they jumped on my head and my neck and my back. I was lying flat on the ground.”
It wasn’t until Braddock saw the horrifying video of Floyd’s killing that he noticed Chauvin as one of the officers who used excessive force on him. He did file a complaint against the officers, but nothing was done. “It’s unfortunate that they didn’t do anything to Derek Chauvin,” he said. “If they had done something about it, it might not have went that far.”
In 2017, Zoya Code had a run-in with Chauvin that was eerily similar to the way Floyd was killed. The former cop arrived at her home for a reported domestic abuse incident. A family member accused Code of attempting to choke her with an extension cord. Code denied the allegations and left the house to cool off after the argument.
When she returned, Chauvin and another officer were at the residence. The ex-cop reportedly grabbed her arms and told her she was under arrest. When Code tried to pull away, Chauvin “pulled her to the ground in the prone position and knelt on her, they said. After she was handcuffed, she refused to stand, so Chauvin carried her out of the house in a prone position and set her face down on the sidewalk,” according to NBC News.
Code said she pleaded, “Don’t kill me.” Chauvin told his co-worker to restrain the woman’s ankles, “even though she was not providing any physical resistance.”
Code is listed as a possible witness for Chauvin’s upcoming murder trial. Prosecutors want to use her treatment against another case to prove that the former officer knew how to use reasonable force to properly restrain a person. Jury selection for the trial is set to begin on March 8. He is currently facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for Floyd’s death.