[George Floyd\Derek Chauvin]
Was a personal beef at play when Chauvin lynched Floyd in broad daylight?
Photo: YouTube
Was personal beef a factor in the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd?
When killer-cop Derek Chauvin, buried his bigoted knee into George Floyd’s neck he apparently already knew the identity of his soon to be dead victim. This important fact must be explored further.
Was a personal beef at play when Chauvin lynched Floyd in broad daylight?
In the subsequent days after this cold-blooded murder, a few stories trickled out reporting a vitally important fact: both men worked as bouncers in a local entertainment establishment. However, there had been questions about how well both men knew one another since their employer said their shifts overlapped.
But now a possible picture of dislike between Floyd and Chauvin is emerging which paints Chauvin as a racist, who didn’t get along with the non-white patrons, unlike the likable Floyd.
David Pinney worked with Floyd and Chauvin at the El Nuevo Rodeo club. Reportedly, Chauvin worked at the club for seventeen years and Floyd started working there as early as 2015.
In a Tuesday CBS interview, Pinney stated both men knew one another well and had “bumped heads.” Pinney has since altered his statement saying it was another employee who had “bumped heads” with Chauvin.
However, Pinney’s comments are still illuminating in depicting Chauvin as a bully who had no business being a bouncer—never mind a police officer. Chauvin’s aggressive behavior was evidently fueled by his dislike for non-white people, particularly Black people. Pinney described Floyd as the exact opposite of Chauvin.
According to Pinney, Floyd was an excellent bouncer, who was great at deescalating situations. Pinney said, “He was good at talking with people and establishing himself. He never had to put his hands on anybody. Usually, his presence would stop people from having any type of competition with one another.”
According to Pinney, and to Maya Santamaria, owner of the El Nuevo Rodeo club, Chauvin was a bigoted hothead.
Pinney described Chauvin as “extremely aggressive within the club with some of the patrons, which was an issue.” Since Floyd was the “gentle giant” type it isn’t surprising Chauvin’s racist violent behavior would be a turnoff to Floyd.
Santamaria stated that Chauvin’s demeanor would change “His face, attitude, posture would change when we did urban nights.” This is juxtaposed to Floyd, who Santamaria said was loved by the club’s large body of Latin customers. Floyd also worked at another Latin bar.
When Santamaria was asked if she thought Chauvin had a problem with Black people, she said “I think he was afraid and intimidated.”
These revelations are stunning and need to be investigated fully by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. If Chauvin’s racism led him to have a personal working-relationship dislike for Floyd that may have a bearing in upgrading the charges from second to first-degree murder.
Maya Santamaria also made another shocking statement, regarding Chauvin’s murder of Floyd, that should be examined thoroughly. “I was not surprised when I initially saw his knee on his neck, to be honest,” Santamaria said. “Because I’ve seen Chauvin do stuff along those lines. What surprised me was that he didn’t stop right away once George was obviously, ya know, saying, ‘OK, OK.’”
Santamaria is obviously telling us here Chauvin liked to abuse his power as a police officer while moonlighting as a bouncer.
There are a host of questions Santamaria should be asked here: what kind of “stuff along those lines” did she witness Chauvin doing? Did he shove his knee into the necks of other non-white customers at her club? Did he apply chokeholds? Did he ever pull his gun?
We must also wonder why Santamaria kept Chauvin employed at her establishment given his penchant for racist violence? Is it because she was fearful of him? Is this why it is easy for her to tell us now she wasn’t surprised to see Chauvin brutalizing Floyd?
Santamaria tells us Chauvin was “afraid and intimidated” by Black people. Is this why he kept his knee in Floyd’s neck for over two minutes after he had already murdered him? Was jealously also a factor—since Floyd was so well-liked and loved?
Here is another thing for us to consider: how many Black and Latino customers have tales to tell about Chauvin’s brutalizing actions while working as a bouncer? Hopefully, in the interest of justice, those who were victims of Chauvin’s brutality will start to come forward and tell their stories on the record.
Because of the recantation of a part of David Pinney’s statement, that Floyd and Chauvin “bumped heads,” some have now reverted to the initial question of how well both knew one another. Yet, there are several important things that have not changed.
First, it is obvious Floyd and Chauvin knew one another well enough—otherwise, Pinney wouldn’t have made such a mistake. Second, it seems clear the other employee who Chauvin “bumped heads” with was another Black man. And more importantly, it shows us that Chauvin, the then cop, is a racist who used the power of his badge to beat up and brutalize Black and other non-white people while he worked as a bouncer.
If Chauvin was roughing up customers and was “afraid and intimidated” by Black people, should we be surprised he had some 18 civilian complaints against him in his capacity as a cop? Those complaints should be examined closely since they likely all involved abusing Black people.
Attorney General Ellison, and the prosecution team, should now interview Pinney, Santamaria, and other co-workers, who witnessed the vicious conduct of Chauvin.
If there is other evidence of a personal dislike between these two men, then Chauvin’s criminality may need to be upgraded to first-degree murder for killing George Floyd.
