One item the media has NOT questioned while discussing the Derek Chauvin trial, is why neither men displayed any sort of familiarity with one another? From what's been released from police cams, Mr. Chauvin and Mr. Floyd's behavior is beyond strange-for several reasons.
Derek Chauvin and George Floyd were co-workers, providing part-time security at the Latin Club El Nuevo Rodeo.
If the two men were co-workers, why did they act like they DIDN'T know one another? With new video released, it became clear Mr. Floyd was having a severe panic attack. He was calling for his mother who had passed 2 years prior. It was difficult to watch.
Wouldn't Derek Chauvin call him by name in an attempt to ease his panic? If there was a dispute, wouldn't they be arguing openly with one another? Neither man acknowledged they knew one another-at all.
Maya Santamaria, who sold the venue a couple months prior to the incident in 2020, said she didn't believe the two men knew each other prior to their fateful encounter that night. If Chauvin had recognized Floyd, she said, "he might have given him a little more mercy."
While Maya Santamaria described Derek Chauvin as being aggressive, especially when the club hosted events that drew a mainly black clientele, responding to fights by taking out his mace and spraying the crowd, a tactic she told him was unjustified "overkill."
She stated the two men may not have known one another, as Derek Chauvin worked for the club for 17 years, and Floyd had only started employment about a year prior.
In another interview for CBS, Maya Santamaria stated, "she had been paying Chauvin, when he was off-duty, to sit in his squad car outside El Nuevo Rodeo for 17 years. She said Floyd worked as a security guard inside the club frequently in the last year. In particular, they both worked on Tuesday nights, when the club had a popular weekly dance competition."
The Club, coincidentally, burned to the ground during the riot's that ensued following Floyd's death.
Another staff member at the Club, David Pinney remembered Floyd and Chauvin's relationship a little differently. He initially reported that "Floyd and Chauvin knew each other “pretty well” and the two had a history of not getting along."
Days later, he changed his claim stating "there was a mix up between Floyd and another co-worker."
Pinney stated "I did know Derrick [sic] and he did have those run-ins with my co-worker, it just wasn't George," he wrote.
Reporter Jeff Pegues said he did not know how Pinney managed to confuse the 6'4", 200lb Floyd with someone else, but added that many in the community were unwilling to discuss the incident.
CBS did not specify which parts of Pinney's story were misremembered, including the fight over a check, the claim that they 'butted heads', or his insistence that the two men definitely knew each other.
CBS also published further excerpts from their interview with Pinney, in which he described Floyd as "like a brother" to him.
Pinney did stick with his account that Derek Chauvin was being “extremely aggressive within the club.”
Given the fact George Floyd was attempting to pay with a counterfeit bill, I believe there is likely more to this story, and their relationship to the Latin Club.
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