One of the Minneapolis police officers who was fired following the death of George Floyd had been a part of multiple police-involved shootings throughout his career.
Derek Chauvin, who was identified as the officer who pinned down Floyd, a black man, by kneeling on his neck, was previously involved in two altercations in which a police officer shot a suspect.
Chauvin shot and wounded Ira Latrell Toles in 2008 while responding to a call over a domestic dispute. During the incident, police said Toles reached for the gun of another officer, prompting Chauvin to shoot Toles in the stomach. In a separate incident from 2006, Chauvin was present when officers shot and killed Wayne Reyes. Police were responding to a report of a stabbing when Reyes pulled his sawed-off shotgun and pointed it at the officers. Several officers fired their weapons, including Chauvin.
Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the department, has hired the same attorney who represented the officer involved in the shooting of Philando Castile, Jeronimo Yanez. Yanez shot and killed Castile during a 2016 traffic stop in St. Paul, Minnesota. Castile told Yanez he was legally carrying a concealed weapon. When he reached for his wallet to show his ID, Yanez believed he was reaching for his weapon and shot him.
Yanez was later found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter.
Tou Thao, an officer who has been with the department since 2012, was also fired following Floyd’s death. In 2017, Thao was named in a police brutality lawsuit by Lamar Ferguson. Ferguson alleged that Thao and another officer stopped him without cause. He accused Thao of punching him while the other officer kicked him. Thao argued that his actions were justified because Ferguson had an outstanding warrant for his arrest and claimed he had slipped while being handcuffed and “actively resisting arrest.”
The department settled with Ferguson outside of court. Ferguson’s attorney claimed his client received $25,000 from the department.
Four officers have been fired from the department following Floyd’s death. The other two officers have not been named.
