Klobuchar Refused to Prosecute Cop Who Knelt on George Floyd Over Previous Complaints
Democrat senator has a controversial record as a Minnesota prosecutor
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Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has come under fire Thursday after it emerged that she refused to prosecute the Minneapolis police officer who was filmed kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, who died in custody.
The Minnesota senator is currently a favorite to be presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate.
The attention on Sen. Klobuchar’s tenure as Hennepin County attorney comes at a time when she is one of several women under consideration by Biden’s campaign as a possible vice presidential candidate.
Her controversial time as a top prosecutor also caused problems during her own presidential campaign before she dropped out of the race.
The issue Thursday largely revolves around former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin is the cop seen kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck in the infamous video who, along with three other officers, was immediately dismissed from the force when the footage of the arrest surfaced.
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In the video, Chauvin appeared to have his knee on Floyd’s neck while Floyd said that he could not breathe.
Floyd later died on Monday after the arrest that involved four Minneapolis police officers.
“Between 1999 and 2007, Klobuchar, the state’s then top prosecutor, declined to press charges against more than a dozen officers accused of killing civilians,” The Guardian reported.
“In 2006, Chauvin was one of several officers involved in the shooting death of a man who stabbed others before turning on the police.”
Klobuchar “did not prosecute and instead the case went to a grand jury that declined to charge the officers with wrongdoing in 2008.”
WXII 12 News reported that Chauvin “had 18 prior complaints filed against him with the Minneapolis Police Department’s Internal Affairs.”
Klobuchar is reportedly being considered as a potential vice presidential pick for Biden, who came under fire late last week after saying on “The Breakfast Club” that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Klobuchar’s record as a prosecutor came under fire while she was campaigning for president earlier this year after The Associated Press reportedly uncovered new evidence in an investigation into the death of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet while she was at home.
"The senator has repeatedly highlighted Mr. [Myon] Burrell’s conviction in the 2002 case, in which an 11-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet, as evidence of her history of being tough on crime and seeking justice for African-American communities shaken by gun violence,” The New York Times reported.
"But the A.P. article quoted one of Mr. Burrell’s co-defendants as saying that he was in fact the gunman responsible for the murder of the girl, Tyesha Edwards.
"Mr. Burrell, The A.P. reported, has insisted that he is innocent and has rejected all plea deals.”
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The Washington Post highlighted another racially charged case that Klobuchar declined to bring charges in that involved the death of 44-year-old Christopher Burns, an unarmed black man, who died after he was put in a chokehold by law enforcement officers who were responding to a domestic violence call.
“The focus of the community’s anger was Amy Klobuchar, the up-and-coming attorney of Hennepin County, who had declined to prosecute police accused of using excessive force against black suspects,” The Washington Post reported.
“At the same time, she aggressively prosecuted smaller offenses such as vandalism and routinely sought longer-than-recommended sentences, including for minors.”
At the beginning of March, while she was still running for president, Klobuchar had to cancel a campaign rally in Minnesota after a large number of protesters stormed the stage demanding that she drop out of the race due to her record as a prosecutor.
