Three of the officers connected to the death of George Floyd are now facing intense scrutiny for yet another violent arrest. Three weeks before Floyd's untimely death, former officers Derek Chauvin, J Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane were involved in an arrest where a man was reportedly pinned to the ground and struggled to breathe.
On May 3, 2020, the three officers responded to a call about a woman being held hostage. Chauvin, Keung and Lane mistakenly believed that the alleged suspect, Adrian Drakeford, had a knife at the time of the arrest. As a result, the officers tackled Drakeford and pinned him to the ground. During the arrest, Drakeford reportedly struggled to breathe. Drakeford was detained and later released.
After the arrest, more details began to emerge regarding the matter. Adrian Drakeford's brother, Lee, recorded the incident as Adrian's girlfriend, Kamaria Layton, can be heard yelling, "He didn't do anything!" Adrian's other brother, Terrence, also arrived on the scene and began pleading with officers before being detained and charged with obstructing the legal process. Fortunately, those charges were dropped “in the interest of justice." A police report regarding the matter noted that Adrian Drakeford was not connected to the initial call that officers responded to and he did not have a knife at the time of the arrest. The source of the emergency call was never uncovered.
“After further investigation, it was determined that Adrian Drakeford was not involved in this call," the police report stated, according to Yahoo! News.
“This whole call was unfounded because everyone on scene at this address was uncooperative."
Three weeks after the arrest of Adrian Drakeford, Lane, Chauvin and Keung were called to investigate the potential use of counterfeit currency. On that day, George Floyd was pronounced dead after Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd's back for eight minutes and 46 seconds. His death, along with the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, would trigger a protest movement unlike anything seen in recent American history.
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