Coworker: Derek Chauvin, George Floyd 'Bumped Heads'

He says they knew each other 'pretty well' from working at Minneapolis nightclub
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 10, 2020 2:53 PM CDT
Coworker: Derek Chauvin, George Floyd 'Bumped Heads'
This photo provided by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office shows former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was arrested Friday, May 29, 2020.   (Courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Former police officer Derek Chauvin knew the man whose murder he is charged with "pretty well" and they did not get along, according to a former coworker at a Minneapolis nightclub. Chauvin and George Floyd both worked in security at El Nuevo Rodeo, with overlapping shifts, and former coworker Derek Pinney says they "bumped heads." It had "a lot to do with Derek being extremely aggressive within the club with some of the patrons, which was an issue," Pinney tells CBS News. Floyd died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes during a Memorial Day arrest, and Pinney says he is sure Chauvin would have recognized Floyd, reports Newsweek.

Club owner Maya Santamaria says Chauvin had been paid over the last 17 years to be outside in his squad car when he was off-duty, while Floyd frequently worked security inside over the last year; the two both worked Tuesdays. She tells CBS that she believes the officer was "afraid and intimidated" by black people. Santamaria said last month that Chauvin had a "real short fuse" and "always resorted to pulling out his mace pepper spray" when there was an altercation. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder in Floyd's death. A lawyer for Floyd's family says the charge should be upgraded to first-degree murder, "because we believe he knew who George Floyd was." (More George Floyd stories.)

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