Students marched in support of Black Lives Matter from San Pablo Park to Berkeley High School on June 9, 2020. Credit: Jerome Paulos
Berkeley leaders and community members joined the nation in responding to the guilty verdict handed down Tuesday afternoon for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on and killed George Floyd in May 2020 and reinvigorated scrutiny toward police brutality throughout the United States.
A jury in Minneapolis found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On May 25, 2020, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for over 9 minutes as bystanders captured the scene on video and pleaded with Chauvin to spare Floyd’s life. Chauvin remained on Floyd’s neck for 3 minutes after Floyd took his last breath.