Derek Chauvin

Biography

Derek Michael Chauvin (/ˈʃoʊvən/ SHOH-vən; born 1976) is an American former police officer who murdered George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On May 25, 2020, Floyd was arrested after a store clerk alleged that he made a purchase using a counterfeit $20 bill. In the course of the arrest, Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for about nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the street and calling out "I can't breathe". The murder set off a series of protests in Minneapolis, across the United States, and around the world, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In early 2021, Chauvin was put on trial for unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter and convicted on all of the charges. He was sentenced to 22+1⁄2 years in prison. Appeals to the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States for review were denied.