The brutal suffocation of George Floyd has caused international protest, condemnations from world leaders and calls for criminal justice reform.
Derek Chauvin, 44, has become the focus of angry and sometimes violent street protests and a federal investigation after he was seen in cellphone video kneeling on the neck of 46-year-old Floyd for almost nine minutes during his arrest on May 25 on suspicion of passing a counterfeit bill. Floyd, who was heard saying he couldn’t breathe, was pronounced dead later that night.
Before his encounter with Floyd, Chauvin had a record that raises serious questions as to why he had been allowed to remain on the police force for nearly 20 years.
Records show that Chauvin has opened fire on two people during his 19-year career. Online city records also show that 17 complaints have been filed against Chauvin. Sixteen complaints were closed with no discipline. The remaining complaint generated two letters of reprimand, with one apparently related to the use of a squad car dashboard camera.
Online court records indicate that the officer who stood guard at the scene, Tou Thao, was sued in federal court in 2017 for alleged excessive force. According to the lawsuit, Lamar Ferguson claimed Thao and his partner stopped him as he was walking to his girlfriend’s house in 2014 for no reason and beat him up. The city ultimately settled the lawsuit for $25,000.
City records show six complaints have been filed against Thao. Five were closed with no discipline. One remains open. The records didn’t include any further details.
Even if the Minneapolis Police Department had fired these officers for their past conduct they would have likely been reinstated because of arbitration and qualified immunity, which has been used to shield individual police officers accused of using excessive force from facing lawsuits from victims and their families, and paying financial settlements, according to a Reuters investigation.
U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, a conservative independent from Michigan, won support from a Minneapolis Democrat for his “Ending Qualified Immunity Act,” which would allow civil lawsuits against police, a recourse that the Supreme Court has all but done away with.
In an exclusive interview with the Philadelphia Tribune on Tuesday, Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden also called for reforms to hold police more accountable when they are accused of abuse and wrongdoing, including seeking to reform qualified immunity.
Qualified immunity has largely shielded police from financial settlements for victims or grieving families. The doctrine protects cops even when courts determine that officers violate civil rights.
“The brutal killing of George Floyd is merely the latest in a long line of incidents of egregious police misconduct,” Amash told colleagues in a letter. “This pattern continues because police are legally, politically and culturally insulated … That must change so that these incidents stop happening.”
If we hope to end a pattern of police violence, victims must be allowed to sue officers for illegal and unconstitutional acts. Urge Congress to limit officers’ qualified immunity against lawsuits so that police officers can be held accountable for using excessive force and other serious misconduct.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)
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