Ex-cop charged in Floyd killing had intense lifestyle
MINNEAPOLIS — White police Officer Derek Chauvin has become known around the world for putting his knee on the neck of a Black man named George Floyd during a May 25 arrest and holding it there for more than eight minutes, until Floyd, saying “I can’t breathe,” no longer had a pulse.
Floyd’s death sparked protests across the country. But even as the Minneapolis police chief called Floyd’s death “murder” and claimed that Chauvin “knew what he was doing,” little has emerged about the 44-yearold officer, now charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, or what in his career might have led up to an arrest so chilling in its quiet ferocity.
Chauvin, his lawyer and family members have declined to talk to the New York Times. Yet dozens of interviews with acquaintances depict a police officer who seemed to operate at an emotional distance from those around him.
‘Chauvin was a quiet and rigid workaholic with poor people skills and a tendency to overreact — with intoxicated people, especially — when a less aggressive stance might have led to a better outcome, interviews show.
He was awkward. Other officers often didn’t like him or didn’t know him. He didn’t go to parties and didn’t seem to have many friends. Some neighbors knew so little about him that they didn’t even know he was a police officer until after his arrest. Even his wife of 10 years, a Hmong refugee and real estate agent, ended up estranged: Days after Floyd’s death, she filed for divorce and asked to change her last name.
Chauvin always wanted action. He continued to pound the streets in one of Minneapolis’ busiest precincts on its hardest shift, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., long after many others his age moved to desk jobs or the day shift.
That earned him kudos. He received two medals of commendation, for tackling an armed suspect and arresting an armed gang member.
He also was awarded two medals of valor, after shooting a man wielding a sawed-off shotgun and subduing a domestic-violence suspect — whom he shot and wounded in the process.
But his performance also led to at least 22 complaints or internal investigations. Only one resulted in discipline.
That is a high number compared with other officers, said Dave Bicking, a board member of Communities United Against Police Brutality, based in the Twin Cities. “His numbers should have definitely raised alarm with the department and triggered a review,” said Bicking, adding that most officers might get one or two complaints in seven years.
On the police force, Chauvin was an outsider. He often partnered with a rookie he was training, exacting in his expectations. That was fine with veteran colleagues, who did not necessarily want to ride alongside him.
“Occasionally, he would seem a little cocky,” said Lucy Gerold, a retired police commander who knew Chauvin. He was, she said, “the guy not everybody liked or wanted to work with.”