The video from May 3, 2020, bears striking similarities to footage showing three of the same officers — Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng — aggressively detaining Floyd.
Three weeks before he planted his knee on George Floyd’s neck, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin responded to a report of a woman being held hostage by armed men in a South Side apartment.
Along with officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Luis Realivasquez, Chauvin marched into the building as a Black man named Adrian Drakeford walked out. Drakeford was carrying an object the officers later said they thought to be a knife. Without a word, they tackled him to the ground outside the apartment building.
His brother Lee Drakeford started recording with his cellphone as he and Adrian’s girlfriend, Kamaria Layton, pleaded that the officers were making a mistake. Continue reading.