Derek Chauvin news: Floyd killer in solitary as police defend Nicholas Reardon shooting Ma’Khia Bryant
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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is expected to appeal his conviction after being found guilty on all charges in the murder of George Floyd.
The jury found Chauvin was:
- Guilty of second-degree unintentional murder
- Guilty of third-degree murder
- Guilty of second-degree manslaughter
Joe Biden said the conviction of Chauvin in the killing of Mr Floyd could be “a giant step forward” for the nation in the fight against systemic racism. But he declared that “it’s not enough.”
Chauvin remains in the maximum security prison there and is currently under “administrative segregation”, otherwise known as solitary confinement, for his safety, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Corrections told CNN.
On Wednesday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland launched a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis, which “will assess whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, including during protests”.
Sentencing was scheduled for 16 June, exactly eight weeks from today.
Read More:
- What happened to the other officers arrested over George Floyd death?
- Minnesota crowd reacts to Chauvin verdict
- George Floyd’s family learn verdict was in from CNN
- Derek Chauvin found guilty on all murder charges
- How long will Derek Chauvin get in jail and what does the verdict mean?
- Who is Derek Chauvin's ex-wife, who filed for divorce after George Floyd's death?
Read The Independent’s updates and analysis below.
‘You’ve got to let the jury speak, it’s the American way’: Says OJ Simpson on Chauvin trial
The Juice has backed the jury. Perhaps unsurprisingly.
While various commentators debate whether the jury was intimidated in their decision, OJ Simpson says it’s “the American way” to let them speak and decided to what degree Chauvin was guilty.
In a Twitter video before the verdict was delivered, The Juice said Chauvin deserved a guilty verdict but was critical of Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ comments to get “more confrontational” if the jury didn’t find him responsible for Floyd’s murder.
“I understood what she was saying, it was a call to arms, not necessarily physical arms, but a call to come out and work and vote,” he said.
“But, she’s got to understand her words matter, she’s got to be a lot clearer how she says them because you can’t be critical of the other side doing the insurrection when they were saying ‘get out and fight, you gotta fight’, and critics what they were saying when they claim later on that they meant pretty much what Maxine Waters meant.”
Derek Chauvin segregated in prison ‘for his safety’, reports say
While he awaits sentencing in eight weeks for the murder of George Floyd, Derek Chauvin has been placed in “administrative segregation” for his own safety in Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights.
Department of Corrections spokesperson Sara Fitzgerald told CNN that Chauvin was separated from the general population of the prison.
“He is on 'administrative segregation' status for his safety," Fitzgerald said in a statement to the outlet. "Administrative segregation is used when someone's presence in the general population is a safety concern."
‘Please don’t hurt us’: Tucker Carlson claims jury intimidated by BLM
The Fox News host commented on the jury verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin to suggest they were intimidated into a guilty verdict by the potential of civil unrest.
“The jury in the Derek Chauvin trial came to a unanimous and unequivocal verdict Tuesday afternoon: ‘Please don’t hurt us.’”
“The jurors spoke for many in this country; everyone understood perfectly well the consequences of an acquittal in this case,” the conservative TV personality continued. “After nearly a year of burning, looting, and murder by BLM, that was never in doubt.”
Joe Biden doesn’t think he needs to end filibuster to pass George Floyd legislation on police reforms
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said today that the president believes the bar for convicting police is too high and needs to be changed, but that he doesn’t need to discuss ending the filibuster (yet) to make it happen.
She said Biden believes there is support from Republicans to reform the police and the justice system to rebuild trust among communities.
“There are conversations that are happening now that involve Democrats and Republicans and he wants to leave the space for that, so he doesn’t believe that having a discussion about the filibuster is constructive to that at this point,” she said.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis comments on suggestions of jury intimidation in Chauvin verdict
Asked on Fox News what he thought about people saying the jury was intimidated into reaching its verdict, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said it was troubling if that’s what people believe.
“I don’t know what happened with this verdict, but if that’s something that can potentially happen, where you basically have justice meted out because the jury is scared of what a mob may do, and again I’m not saying that’s what happened here, but that speaker seemed to suggest that had an impact, that’s completely antithetical to the rule of law,” he said.
Police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant is ‘tragic’, says White House
Joe Biden has been briefed on the tragic death of a teenage girl in Ohio moments after the guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Body camera footage showed police shot Bryant as she was brandishing a knife and lunging at two women, with the fatal round fired as she was raising the weapon in a stabbing motion.
“The killing of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant by the Columbus police is tragic, she was a child, we’re thinking of her friends and family and the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss,” Psaki said.
“We know that police violence disproportionately impacts black and Latino people and communities and that black women and girls, like black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence, we also know that there are particular vulnerabilities that children in foster care like Ma’Khia face and her death came, as you noted, just as America was hopeful of a step forward after the traumatic and exhausting trial of Derek Chauvin and the verdict that was reached.”
POLL: Majority of Americans approve of Chauvin guilty verdict
A new snap poll conducted for USA Today just hours after the Derek Chauvin trial ended found Americans mostly approve of the jury’s murder verdict.
Polling company Ipsos asked 1000 adults from all 51 states and found 71 per cent agreed the ex-cop was guilty, while 61 per cent said they would accept the verdict and do no further protesting.
Surprisingly, there was not partisan split between Democrats or Republicans in those responses as supporters of both parties found some rare common ground in the outcome.
Ipsos said it was "a rare moment when majorities of both Democrats and Republicans believe the outcome is correct”.
Now, unspoken in those results is that 29 per cent of people believe Chauvin was not guilty and therefore disagreed with the verdict, while 39 per cent would continue to march and protest even though he was found guilty.
Both of those numbers represent large chunks of the population.
Watch: Val Demings and Jim Jordan clash over police funding
“I have the floor, Mr Jordan! Did I strike a nerve? Law enforcement officers deserve better than to be utilised as pawns! And you and your colleagues should be ashamed of yourselves!”
Florida Democratic Representative and former police chief Val Demings denounced Republicans, claiming they were using police officers as “pawns” as they were trying to amend a hate crimes bill, when Ohio Republican and Trump loyalist Jim Jordan interrupted to object, leading to a shouting match.
Gustaf Kilander reports:
Val Demings and Jim Jordan clash over police funding
‘Law enforcement officers deserve better than to be utilised as pawns! And you and your colleagues should be ashamed of yourselves!’ Demings thunders at Jordan
Truck drives into crowd celebrating Chauvin verdict
A truck appeared to drive into a crowd in Minneapolis celebrating the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.
Video of the delivery truck showed it driving towards a crowd and attempting to turn the corner before then coming to a stop on Tuesday.
The truck was immediately surrounded with demonstrators who climbed on the vehicle. Others were videoed banging on the windows of the driver’s cabin and confronting the driver of the truck.
One demonstrator was forced to jump off the hood of the truck, causing further outrage among bystanders.
Then, sounding the horn, the driver continued to move forward in the truck, causing the crowd – of more than a dozen – to stand-down and run from it, to screams of “oh my god”.
Gino Spocchia reports.
Truck drives into crowd celebrating Chauvin verdict
Demonstrators forced out of the way amid screams of ‘oh my god’
Ma’Khia Bryant: Everything we know about the police shooting of a teenage girl
A 16-year-old Black girl was fatally shot by a police officer on Tuesday just as the murder conviction of Derek Chauvin was announced in a Minneapolis courthouse.
Ma'Khia Bryant, of Columbus, Ohio, was identified by her aunt Hazel Bryant as the person shot by police.
The Columbus Police Department received a phone call around 4.35pm local time about an attempted stabbing. The caller reported that a female was attempting to stab them and then hung up the phone, according to police.
Danielle Zoellner reports.
Everything we know about the Ma’Khia Bryant police shooting
Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation leading investigation into fatal police shooting
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