Cop and vic ‘bumped heads' at club: report

George Floyd and Derek Chauvin had a bad history long before the now-former Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck until he died, according to a former co-worker.

The two Minnesota men “bumped heads” at El Nuevo Rodeo, a Minneapolis nightclub where they worked together, David Pinney told CBS News in a report out Wednesday.

“It has a lot to do with Derek being extremely aggressive within the club with some of the patrons, which was an issue,” Pinney said, claiming the two men knew each other “pretty well.”

Club owner Maya Santamaria previously told a local TV station that she had paid Chauvin to sit outside in his police car during his offhours for nearly 17 years. Floyd, she said, worked inside as a security guard.

Santamaria told CBS News that she believed Chauvin was “afraid and intimidated” by black people.

Chauvin (inset) has since been fired from the Minneapolis Police Department and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25 death.

Three other officers have also been fired and charged with aiding and abetting murder.

Floyd’s death has caused ripple effects around the country, both in widespread anti-police brutality protests and in police reform, including multiple departments banning chokehold arrests.

Benjamin Crump, the attorney representing Floyd’s family, has called for Chauvin’s charges to be upgraded to first-degree murder in light of the two men knowing each other.