‘A murderer lives here': Grafitti scrawled outside home of white police officer who knelt on neck of George Floyd
'There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be in jail right now'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Angry Minneapolis residents protesting the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer scrawled the phrase "A murderer lives here" on the road outside the officer's house Wednesday night.
Mr Floyd was killed when Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for eight minutes, despite Mr Floyd crying out that he couldn't breathe. Eventually Mr Floyd lost consciousness and died.
Officers claimed Mr Floyd was resisting arrest, but security footage from a nearby restaurant that captured the arrest shows Mr Floyd cooperating with the police before his death.
When video of Mr Floyd's death surfaced and began to spread online, the four police officers involved were fired and protests against police brutality began to flare up around Minneapolis.
On the second night of protests, participants gathered around Mr Chauvin's home. They dumped blood-red paint and wrote the word "murderer" on his driveway. A sign reading "People don't kill people, cops do" and "ACAB 20" was left at the edge of his property.
Speaking to The Mercury News, one of the protesters outside Mr Chauvin's house, Delyla Doshie, called for Mr Chauvin's arrest.
"We want justice. People have been arrested for less. There's no reason why he shouldn't be in jail right now," she said.
Mr Chauvin had worked with the Minneapolis police department for 19 years prior to the incident and has a history of questionable use-of-force.
According to NBC News, Mr Chauvin was the subject of at least a dozen complaints.
Complaints against officers can be made by anyone, and officers who regularly deal with the public are likely to have more complaints than those who do not. Mylan Masson, a retired Minneapolis Park police officer, told NBC News that the number of complaints Mr Chauvin had was "a little bit higher than normal."
In 2006, Mr Chauvin was one of several officers put on paid leave after they shot and killed a man who had allegedly stabbed his girlfriend and threatened to kill them with a shotgun.
After a chase, the alleged stabber got out of his truck with a shotgun and several police shot him multiple times, killing him.
Later that year, Mr Chauvin was named in a federal lawsuit filed by a Minnesota Correctional Facility inmate. The details of that case are not immediately available, but it was dismissed in 2007.
The next year, Mr Chauvin responded to a domestic disturbance. One of the people in the house was attempting to escape when Mr Chauvin gained access and tried to stop them. According to the police report — which is written by the responding officers — the person trying to escape resisted Mr Chauvin's orders to get down, which resulted in a fight. During the fight, the police report claims the individual reached for Mr Chauvin's gun. As a result, Mr Chauvin shot the man twice in the abdomen. The man survived the encounter.
As more information comes to light about Mr Chauvin — who has yet to be charged with any crime — protests in Minneapolis have intensified. Windows at the Minneapolis Police's Third Precinct police station were smashed by protesters and police cars were vandalized and attacked as well.
Later, an Autozone and a Target were burned and looted while a still under-construction apartment complex was set ablaze.
The fires in the area of the protest became so large that residents living nearby began spraying their homes down with water in the middle of the night in hopes it might prevent the fires from consuming their houses.
Police fired teargas and "less-than-leathal" projectiles into the crowd, leaving some protesters bloodied and bruised and blinded.
According to The Mercury News, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo pleaded for calm in the city and begged for the public to allow the criminal justice system to play out.
"Justice historically has never come to fruition through some of the acts we're seeing tonight, whether it's the looting, the damage to property or other things," Mr Arradondo said.
Officers from St. Paul, the Metro Transit police and the Minnesota State Patrol troopers were called in to assist the Minneapolis Police Department.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments