Derek Michael Chauvin (1976-) was an American policeman from Minneapolis, Minnesota who, on 25 May 2020, murdered the African-American man George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for eight minutes while responding to a 9-1-1 call. On 20 April 2021, he was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter.
Biography
Derek Michael Chauvin was born in Oakdale, Minnesota in 1976, and he worked as a security guard, as a US Army military policemen, and then in the Minneapolis Police Department after 2001. He received 18 complaints on his official record, being disciplined twice; he was also involved in three police shootings, one of which was fatal. On 25 May 2020, he became the subject of worldwide infamy when he was videotaped kneeling on the neck of African-American Minneapolis resident George Floyd for almost eight minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down on the street. Floyd repeatedly gasped for air and begged to be allowed to breathe, but Chauvin knelt on his neck until he was dead. This fatal instance of police brutality, along with the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, led to the George Floyd protests of the summer of 2020 and calls to defund or even abolish the Minneapolis Police Department and many other departments across the country. Chauvin was fired a day after the incident and ultimately charged with third and second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was released on bail on 7 October 2020, and his trial began on 8 March 2021; on 20 April 2021, he was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter.