MPD chief addresses efforts to rewrite history after George Floyd’s murder: 'Everyone knew what they saw'

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The current and former chiefs of the Minneapolis Police Department are pushing back on efforts to rewrite history five years after the murder of George Floyd.

Former MPD chief calls ‘revisionist history’ of George Floyd murder ‘dangerous’

What they're saying:

Medaria Arradondo, the former Minneapolis police chief, recalled the moment he first saw the video of one of his officers kneeling on George Floyd’s neck in May 2020.

"It was gut-wrenching," Arradondo said.

Five years later, Arradondo compares the impact of that video to another indelible image from the civil rights movement. 

He remembers his late grandmother keeping an old copy of Jet Magazine on display in her home that included the famous photograph of Emmett Till’s mother standing over his casket.

"I used to always wonder why my grandmother kept that magazine out in full display."

After May 25, 2020, Arradondo no longer wonders why. 

"When I saw that video, that's what came to mind," Arradondo said.  "That video was gonna forever be cemented, certainly in my mind."

FOX 9 interviewed Arradondo as part of a series called ‘After George Floyd: 5 years. 5 Stories’

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who succeeded Arradondo in 2022, remembers first seeing the video while still working in New Jersey. 

"Let's not forget… that cops, that police chiefs, that union officials all over the country condemned what happened here," O’Hara said. 

"Let's not forget that everyone saw that video and everyone knew what they saw."

The backstory:

In recent interviews with FOX 9, O’Hara and Arradondo addressed increasing efforts to rewrite what happened to George Floyd in May 2020. 

There is an online campaign to discredit the state and federal investigations that resulted in Derek Chauvin’s convictions for murder and civil rights violations.

"I do think some valid points are raised about some discrepancies that may have happened in the case, but that shouldn’t be a surprise…because no case is perfect," O’Hara said.  "However, I think it does go way too far to try and suggest that our eyes were lying to us."

Arradondo warned the "revisionist history" he sees is dangerous.

"If we disagree with (the facts), or they don't fit our narrative, that we will just try to erase them, or rewrite our own history, I think that's a very dangerous precedent to set," Arradondo said.

There have also been calls for Chauvin to receive a presidential pardon, even though it would not actually lead to his release from prison because of his conviction on state murder charges.

This week, O’Hara said a pardon is "unlikely" but that the city would prepare for any possibility. 

Timeline:

Here is a timeline of the criminal charges, convictions and appeals involving Derek Chauvin:

• May 25, 2020: Bystander video shows former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Chauvin later admitted that he continued to use force even though he was aware that Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting, talking and moving, and even though he was aware that Mr. Floyd had lost consciousness and a pulse.
• May 29, 2020: Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers are arrested for their roles in Floyd’s death. All four officers are eventually convicted on state and federal charges.
• April 20, 2021: Chauvin is convicted on state murder and manslaughter charges. He is sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
• July 7, 2022: Chauvin agrees to a 20-year prison sentence on federal charges that he violated Floyd’s civil rights. In his plea, Chauvin "agreed that the sentencing for this crime should be based on the sentence for second-degree murder because he acted willfully and in callous and wanton disregard of the consequences to Mr. Floyd’s life," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
• Nov 23, 2023: The Supreme Court of the United States rejects Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction. Chauvin has an active appeal of his federal conviction for violating Floyd’s rights.

Why you should care:

O’Hara and Arradondo also reflected on the challenges of leading a depleted department in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder. Arradondo had to respond to protests, riots and calls to defund the police in the weeks and months that followed.

"I recall having a conversation with my command staff…telling them, ‘It's going to be the most difficult time in your career ever.’" Arradondo said. "I needed for us to be on the right side of history."

Arradondo guided the department through a subsequent election in which voters rejected a ballot option to drastically re-shape the police department.

"We need a police department that is very honest about reform," he said. "But we need a police department."

Arradondo stepped down as chief in late 2021 as the department was struggling to retain officers.

O’Hara took over the following year and said it has been challenging to rebuild the department in a city where officers do not feel supported or even acknowledged.

"Police officers here especially, five years later, by and large do not feel like their humanity has ever been acknowledged."

O’Hara said support for the department plummeted in the days and weeks after Floyd’s murder when rioters overwhelmed the city.

He has championed the reform efforts under the state’s consent decree but said those reforms must also include more support for officers’ wellness.

"We have to be better at supporting the health and wellness of our officers, we have to be better at providing them better trainings," O’Hara said.

After George FloydMinneapolisMinneapolis Police Department