Derek Chauvin Speaks Out for First Time Since Conviction in George Floyd Killing

Former police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 20 years in prison in high-profile proceedings regarding the death of George Floyd.

Floyd’s death sparked riots across the country in the summer of 2020 after video showed the officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes while the perpetrator of a crime complained of not being able to breathe.

RTM previously reported that Chauvin maintains Floyd’s death was accidental and not the result of suffocation — as prosecutors alleged. Further, Chauvin has argued that the white officer attacking a black victim narrative many news outlets promoted made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial.

Following several attempts to appeal his case in lower courts, on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his motion to appeal.

Following the high court’s announcement, Chauvin released a comment.

The Daily Mail reported that in a previous interview, Chauvin described his trial as a “sham.”

In a documentary titled, The Fall of Minneapolis,” which details the case, Journalist Liz Collin depicted Chauvin’s conviction as a “rushed conclusion by Democratic officials.” The documentary adds that the soft-on-crime initiatives in Democrat-led enclaves, initiated after the wave of riots in the summer of 2020, contribute greatly to the rise in crime we are seeing today.

In a phone interview with Collins on Monday, Chauvin said he followed standard procedure in detaining an uncooperative crime suspect and noted it was “not normal” for the ambulance to take so long to respond to the scene.

The responding ambulance reportedly took 20 minutes to arrive despite being just eight blocks away when the emergency call was made.

A judge sentenced Chauvin, formerly with the Minneapolis Police Department, to 22.5 years in prison following his conviction by a jury in April 2021 of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Many agree with Chauvin’s attorneys in claiming his trial was not fair. Renewed fervor about the case followed the fairly recent release of a report showing that Floyd had a lethal level of drugs, including fentanyl, in his system when he died.