MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (NBC) – The police chief in Minneapolis is speaking out for the first time since a majority of the city council agreed to dismantle the department. Also, NBC has learned that George Floyd and the officer accused of killing him worked together long before the deadly incident.
Thursday morning, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo is calling for change. He said, “If we don’t evolve, we will not exist anymore”
He said powerful police unions make it hard to fire bad cops. So he’s cutting off contract negotiations with the one in Minneapolis and promising to look more closely at officer performance data to identify early signs of misconduct.
“Race is inextricably a part of the American policing system,” Chief Arradondo said. “We will never evolve in this profession if we do not address it head-on.”
The majority of the Minneapolis City Council has pledged to dismantle the police department. Mayor Jacob Frey won’t go that far. “If you’re talking about having a full culture shift in the Minneapolis Police Department, I’m on board,” he said. “But if you’re talking about abolishing the police department, no I am not.”
Fired officer Derek Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter after prosecutors say he knelt on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes.
Chief Arradondo was asked, “If you could look and be in the same room with Derek Chauvin, what would you say to him?”
He replied, “I would not be in the same room with him. And I refuse to mention his name.”
Both Chauvin and Floyd worked security at a local club, although it appears the two didn’t know each other well.
The club’s former owner, Maya Santamaria, said Chauvin was sometimes aggressive on the job, deploying pepper spray quickly, adding he appeared anxious around black customers. She said, “It did seem like the African American crowd was a crowd that he was intimidated by.”
Three other officers are charged in connection with Floyd’s death. One, Thomas Lane, has now been released on bail.
Arradondo grew up Minneapolis. He’s the city’s first black police chief. Two weeks ago, he watched part of it burn. “It’s been tough,” he said. “I mean, this is a city that I love. This is a city that has taken me in.” Arradondo said his biggest regret over the past two weeks was that “humanity was not there for Mr. Floyd when it should have been.”
Chauvin’s attorney declined to comment in a statement.
Overnight, the police union called Floyd’s death “senseless” but questioned whether the chief and mayor could be violating state law by pulling out of contract negotiations. The union said it’s willing to collaborate.
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