An American woman who was allegedly the victim of excessive force at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin a few months before the death of George Floyd deplored the inaction of the authorities, for not having properly handled the situation, in a complaint filed Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, my experience with Derek Chauvin is not unique. George Floyd died at the hands of this individual, and if the City had intervened in his behavior after my interaction, he could still be alive today,” lamented Patty Day in a press release, according to NBC News on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the mother would have filed a new formal complaint in Minnesota federal court against ex-police officer Derek Chauvin and his former colleague, Ellen Jensen, for an intervention which would have degenerated into excessive violence in January 2020, according to the media American.
That day, the depressed woman, who was going through a divorce, had been drinking before an alarm on her cell phone reminded her to pick up her children from daycare.
She then allegedly got behind the wheel, before stopping a few blocks away when she realized she shouldn’t be driving in her condition. It was then that his vehicle got stuck in a snowbank, in front of a witness’s home. Without a cell phone to call for help, she would have thrown the keys in the back seat while waiting to find a solution.
It was in this context that the police duo found her when they arrived at the scene.
Except that after exchanging a few words, during which the woman tried to explain the situation, Derek Chauvin opened the door before violently grabbing her arms, with his colleague, to force her out of the vehicle, without even inform that she was under arrest.
He then allegedly threw her face down on the ground, to the point of breaking one of her teeth, before keeping her on the ground with a knee on her back, even after she was handcuffed.
“I didn’t resist. I was not belligerent,” the woman insisted to KARE, a media outlet affiliated with NBC News.
The woman was charged with impaired driving and had her license temporarily revoked before the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
The prosecutor in the case then denounced “the way in which the interaction took place in this particular case”, noted the American media.
But, according to their respective reports, the two officers attempted to lessen their use of force before Judge Julie Allyn viewed the body camera footage, revealing that they never even asked the woman to come out of her room. vehicle.
The woman, who suffered severe bruising as a result of the incident and developed anxiety around the police, denounced the inaction of the Minneapolis Police Department as well as city leaders for chose to ignore the officer’s “documented pattern of misconduct.”
“Other people also had their civil rights violated, such as Zoya Code and John Pope, demonstrating his aggressive behaviors. It was a traumatic part of my life that I hope no one else has to endure,” the woman concluded in writing.
Derek Chauvin is already serving a 22-year sentence for causing the death of African-American George Floyd in May 2020 by kneeling on his neck.
