Anyone notice Chauvin has no people?

[nolabear]

I realized that all these people—family, friends past and present, supporters, a partner, and Chauvin has nobody. No family at the courthouse, an ex wife from whom he was divorced right after his arrest, no kids, no colleagues attesting to anything good he’s ever done.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, but it’s not much of a testament to the man, is it?

If I could pick one requirement for someone being a cop, it would be to look at who he associates with, his connections as a human being who loves other human beings. In this tragedy it’s not hard to see who has that, who doesn’t, and that the wrong one had power.

[Hoyt]

1. As I understand it, his wife left him shortly after the murder. I have not heard one GOPer I know

express any support for Chauvin.

I suspect everyone he knew wanted no part of defending him because it's indefensible.

[whopis01]

16. His wife "leaving" him was a scam.

It was portrayed to make it look as though she was leaving him.

The reality was that they were trying to transfer all of their assets to be in her name only, so that they couldn't be touched by lawsuits and declarations of bankruptcy on his part.

The divorce agreement gave her both their homes, all of their bank accounts and investment accounts, and all the money from his retirement and pension.

The judge rejected their divorce agreement. Eventually a more reasonable one was accepted.


https://www.startribune.com/judge-rejects-proposed-derek-chauvin-divorce-agreement-citing-possible-fraud/573132961/

[Hoyt]

18. Did not know that. In any event, she showed no support for Chauvin.

[Chellee]

45. She has her own problems.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/07/22/derek-chauvin-and-wife-charged-with-multiple-felony-tax-crimes/

[NJCher]

19. damn, another bubble burst

I was thinking we might have someone of character here.

Instead, it's the usual "all about money."

Which in a way I can't blame her: she didn't murder George Floyd. But she damn well knew she was living with a monster who had 18 complaints against him.

Should she suffer financially? I think maybe she should. She could have made that decision long ago.

But I really don't now the inside story so I guess I should just shut up already.

[whopis01]

50. It is difficult or impossible to punish someone without impacting those around them

Sometimes those around the person may have benefited from the criminal actions. Other times they haven't had any benefit at all.

If you put someone in jail, there is a good chance their family is going to suffer. Is that fair? In a whole lot of cases it isn't. But that doesn't mean the offender shouldn't be sent to jail.

It is a situation that sucks. But it is caused by people who suck.

In this particular case there are other things going on that make me not have much sympathy for her. They were hiding income from the IRS and not filing reports for some years. And from what I have read, it appears that she was well aware of this.

[Oppaloopa]

56. He cant keep his pension. He was declared guilty of a felony he should have lost that.

[Peregrine Took]

60. Newsweek article says he can keep his pension:

https://www.newsweek.com/derek-chauvin-will-still-eligible-keep-his-pension-despite-guilty-verdict-1585175

[whopis01]

62. Are you sure about that?

https://www.newsweek.com/derek-chauvin-will-still-eligible-keep-his-pension-despite-guilty-verdict-1585175

[Progressive Jones]

59. They both have big problems with the IRS, too.

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/23/894535746/former-minnesota-police-officer-derek-chauvin-charged-with-tax-evasion

[csziggy]

31. I know one right winger and was surprised when he supported Chauvin's convention

I only know him because his wife was a long time acquaintance. She and I sort of agreed to ever discuss politics and since she died, I've mostly kept to that with her husband.

Today I was talking to him and he brought up the Chauvin conviction. He thought it was a just conviction, but wasn't sure there should have been guilty verdicts on all the charges. Even more surprising to me, he went on to talk about how more police should be charged for their excessive violence.

This gives me hope - if even right wingers think the police have overstepped, maybe changes can be made.

[Lisa0825]

55. Good to hear!

[greenjar_01]

2. Or he told his friends and family not to put themselves in the mix

Which is equally plausible and equally supported by evidence.

[nolabear]

5. I'd like to see the evidence.

Admittedly I didn’t spend a lot of time looking but I did some.

[greenjar_01]

8. What's your evidence? That nobody showed up to trial for him?

That's also my evidence.

[Sunsky]

42. Not true

Two ladies showed up in the latter days of the trial. One of Asian descent, some speculated it was his ex-wife, and the last day a lady described as caucasian showed up.

[PoliticAverse]

3. There was one seat reserved for a Chauvin family member but apparently it remained unoccupied

during the trial.

[H2O Man]

12. Primarily unoccupied.

There was at least one day when a person was in the seat to show support for the murderer. The judge had ruled the cameras could not show the person.

[nolabear]

32. Really? I didn't know that. Wonder if it was love or philosophy.

I suppose you have to prove genuine affiliation in order to be allowed.

[H2O Man]

40. Both sides had one seat

reserved for a family member. George Floyd's family rotated daily. God bless them, they are such Good People.

Chauvin had, as far as I know, one person related to him show up one day. However, because the judge had urged the media not to show (or report) on his relatives, this has only been reported once that I am aware of, over the weekend before both sides made final arguments.

(When the drunken thug cop that shot my cousin & his son was thus tried for murder, only one family member attended court, and she was not there daily. Some of my nieces & nephews said that she and her sister were obnoxious people. Others told me that his family had a strong dislike for the guy, and were relieved he was going to prison. They were all too familiar with his threats and bullying everyone, from family to complete strangers.)

[RockRaven]

4. IIRC, his (ex)wife and him are also being prosecuted for tax fraud. Her attorney would be wise to

insist that they have no contact, given that they are codefendents and a possible trial strategy is to put all the blame on him.

[nolabear]

7. I wondered about why no one was saying anything at all.

Makes sense.

[Jilly_in_VA]

28. Nine counts

or so I heard. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[TwilightZone]

6. It's possible he had them and they disassociated from him.

This offense was so egregious that even his fellow officers and supervisors were quick to distance themselves from him. Their testimony was a key component in the case.

He might have had "people" prior to the murder but they similarly disassociated. It's also possible that he'd already alienated any support group he might have ever had.

[nolabear]

11. Could be. The absence is striking. Often the past is dug up.

You know, he was part of this ball team, he had these interests, etc. I’m not claiming anything, just curious, given the press’s love of background.

[TwilightZone]

14. It is interesting.

I hadn't really thought about it until your post, but you make a good point.

There wasn't even the usual attempt by the right wing to whitewash his image. No smiley yearbook photos, friends trotted out to talk about how great a guy he was, and the like. They had to resort almost entirely to the other usual tactic - blame the victim.

[Ocelot II]

9. Whatever family members or friends he has are probably staying away

from any sort of public visibility. But it is unusual, and kind of sad. I don't feel sorry for the man Chauvin has become as a police officer - he has a history of bad policing and probably would have been sacked a long time ago if it hadn't been for the power of the union - but I have to wonder where and how he lost his soul and his humanity. When people turn bad, that's a tragedy too.

[yonder]

15. +1.

[FSogol]

24. Everyone is quick to blame police unions, but he continued doing bad policing because

other police officers and his superiors were perfectly fine with it. That can't all be blamed on a union.

[Ocelot II]

26. The Minneapolis police union, led until a few weeks ago

by Trumpist asshole Bob Kroll, is infamous for protecting bad cops and have done for years. Other officers may be complicit to some extent but the union here is so powerful that whenever a bad cop is complained about, the union has been able to ensure that the cop receives little or no punishment. Those few that have ever been suspended or fired have always gotten their jobs back because the union demands and gets arbitration, which is almost always resolved in the officer's favor. Other police unions might not be as bad, but this one is very bad. Now that Kroll is gone it might improve, but I'm not holding my breath.

[stopdiggin]

35. will the recently announced Justice

investigation have any influence with that? I have no idea how those dynamics might play out. Close ranks? Or considerably less support from the rank and file?

[pazzyanne]

58. My thoughts exactly.

Was so happy to hear he finally resigned. His leadership was often in direct opposition to mpls pd policies and procedures. Cleaning up the department is going to be a difficult job.

[LT Barclay]

10. I think they just bailed out because they knew he was going

Down.
There is a book called "Becoming Wild" that talks about chimpanzee social structure and dominance.
The parallels to Trump and the police are scary.
Basically it comes down to the old adage "everyone loves a winner". And Trump and chauvin aren't anymore. They aren't alpha so to people who think that way, they are no longer interesting.

[Rustyeye77]

13. DC and ex wife

[Chainfire]

17. One thing is certain, he is about to enter a friendless world.

[Pepsidog]

20. He is the kind of guy that has "asshole" written all over his face.

It will be interesting to hear what he has to say at sentencing, if anything, and if anyone speaks on his behalf.

[Runningdawg]

30. He had the same look on his face as the verdict was read as Trump did when they told him he won.

[demmiblue]

21. There are a lot of people who have no people, by choice or by circumstance.

I wouldn't use that fact to judge them in the least.

[Treefrog]

23. I agree. I can't imagine being in his shoes for many reasons.

But I would tell my friends and family (assuming there were such) to stay away from the press circus.

[nolabear]

34. Don't get me wrong; Im not. It's just an interesting observation about him.

Lots of horrible, horrible people have people who love them. And there are people who have none but aren't terrible. I can't imagine his lawyers not taking advantage of that if anyone was available, though.

And if I was giving that "test" to prospective police officers I'd still want evidence that they had people, past or present, who'd loved them and a sense of community.

[bucolic_frolic]

22. sociopath

they have no regard for boundaries, rights of others, empathy. I think that's what's going on here.

[ShazzieB]

61. Yes, and he has the creepy, empty eyes to prove it.

I've seen head shot crops of him from the murder video, and if you didn't know what was happening there, you'd think he was changing a tire or something. No emotion whatsoever as he slowly snuffs out a man's life.

[pressbox69]

25. Just imagine

the daily horror that his ex wife and step children suffered while living with this savage, state sanctioned terrorist. Still, I hope they keep a close watch on him in jail. I'd hate to hear that he succumbed to the same disease that took Jeffrey Epstein, final justice.

[Hekate]

37. I'm with you on this. I'm not judging his wife by her pretty smile until I know a lot more about ...

...life inside their house.

I used to be told what a lovely smile I had. No one knew.

[Hekate]

27. Spot on, nolabear

[Jilly_in_VA]

29. Sociopaths

They don't have people once they're exposed for what they are.

[uponit7771]

51. +1, ... unless he had a cult and then it doesn't matter what he becomes. Chauvin didn't have

... cult following outside of 88ers

[TalenaGor]

33. No Chauvinists? thats rare....

[Jetheels]

36. Maybe Tucker Carlson will marry him.

[Thrill]

38. No Character Witness either

[BobTheSubgenius]

39. As an example of the converse, I was having a conversation with a potential business partner.

He had all kinds of upside, so I wanted to get along with him, but what he picked up on surprised me, when he told me about it some weeks later.

I had told him that we were on our way to the mainland to see our BFFs and that the F half of the couple and I had met in a split Grade 2/3 class in '59 or '60. His comment was "When I found out you had friends for over 50 years, I knew you were someone I wanted to do business with."

So associations do sometimes tell a take.

[nolabear]

48. Yes. It means something.

[diverdownjt]

41. You mean a background check ...right?

If I could pick one requirement for someone being a cop, it would be to look at who he associates with, his connections as a human being who loves other human beings.

[nolabear]

49. Not necessarily. Even in conversation and association you learn a lot.

Do they refer to others whom they admire and love, do they laugh about mistakes made and forgiveness, when others are with them do they and the others act trustingly and with compassion for one another...that kind of thing.

[tikka]

43. Just as an aside, how many of you have good friends that are cops?

[nolabear]

52. I have many relatives who are. Tbh I'm not wild about some of them

because they have lots of deeply conservative ideas and a certain smugness about being cops. But one just brought his preemie newborn boy home and they're showing photos of him cuddling him, both of them sound asleep, so his wife can rest. He adores his family and his mother and brother, and they adore him. He has barbecues and visits his father who's in a nursing home because of a stroke.

I couldn't guarantee he wouldn't do something dumb but I can promise he wouldn't do anything cruel.

[ProfessorGAC]

53. We've Had 2

One was a police captain. 41 years on the force, drew his weapon once in a confrontation, a couple times when entering a potential crime scene. Never fired it.
I was on the BoD of a pretty good size credit union with him for around 16 years. He was the slightly older brother of my wife's college roommate. (And HS friend.)
The other was a beat guy that ended up a gold shield sergeant. He died in a car wreck about 20 years ago while off duty. Big rig guy fell asleep at the wheel and crushed his car like a bug about 6 miles from our house.
Both were on a department in a city of around 150,000.
Why the question?

[tikka]

57. Just curious.

[IronLionZion]

44. I'm just glad he wasn't invited to speak at the Republican convention

or any Trump rallies.

[WestIndianArchie]

46. No sympathy

I have absolute zero sympathy for Derrick Chauvin. I would like to be the first person to donate to the prisoner that helps him on his prison journey. Enough is Enough!!!!

[IcyPeas]

47. I think he will find friends of the Aryan type while in jail.

[Stinky The Clown]

54. I DID notice that. And now, in prison, he is completely, utterly, frighteningly alone.

In fact, I think I posted about that here on DU someplace.

I don't know where to go with that, either, except it helps to define the man.