George Floyd And Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Worked Security At The Same Nightclub. People Who Worked With Them Can't Believe It.
The club’s owner said former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin would sometimes "overreact and lash out quickly" while working as a security guard at the popular club.
Brianna SacksBuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on May 29, 2020,
Kerem Yucel / Getty Images
Flowers, signs, and balloons are left near a makeshift memorial to George Floyd near the spot where he died while in custody of the Minneapolis police
The death of George Floyd after being pinned to the ground in a neck chokehold by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was arrested on murder charges today, has sparked unrest across the country and become a political flashpoint — yet another example of a white officer unleashing deadly force on a black man.
But for former employees, DJs, and promoters who spent time at El Nuevo Rodeo, a popular Latin nightclub in southeast Minneapolis, the killing has provoked grief, rage, and also shock. Both Floyd, 46, and Chauvin, 44, worked as part-time security guards at the establishment. How was it possible, many asked, that such violence had exploded between two former coworkers who by many accounts worked peacefully in proximity to each other for about a year?
“It’s very shocking,” said Alexander Vasquez Hagen, who worked security at the club several years ago and interacted with Chauvin in that capacity. He said he knew and liked Floyd from the city’s club scene.
“Crazy,” added AJ Jaurequi, a club promoter in the area. He said he wondered if the two men “had some beef with each other, because it’s odd that you’d treat someone you knew like that.”
Maya Santamaria, the club’s former owner, said Floyd, the father of a six-year-old girl, was “a sweetheart” and that “everyone loved him.” Santamaria said she’d hire Floyd for busy nights, to join the 25 other security guards inside the club.
Chauvin, whom she said worked for her nearly every weekend for 17 years, stayed outside, usually in his squad car or checking IDs. The former club owner paid the officer, as well as three to four others, $55 an hour to keep the peace, something she said “the city made [her] do to stay in operation.”
Santamaria recalled that Chauvin, a 19-year-veteran of the department, “was nice but he would overreact and lash out quickly.”
This was particularly true, she said, on nights when the club hosted special events like Twerk Tuesdays and other dance festivals geared toward the black community.
“His face, attitude, posture would change when we did urban nights,” she said, adding that he had a “propensity to pull out pepper spray” and use it on her patrons, something she said she had spoken to him about.
A former bouncer, who worked there until 2014, and a former DJ both said they had never seen or heard of pepper spray being used. A lawyer for Chauvin could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, as Minneapolis braced for a fourth night of protests, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter for the death of his former coworker. The killing was captured on cellphone video and showed Chauvin keeping Floyd in a neck chokehold for more than eight minutes.
The fatal encounter took place outside a convenience store after a store manager who suspected Floyd had tried to pay with a counterfeit bill called police.
“Please, please, I can’t breathe,” Floyd says in a viral video of the encounter. “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd died in police custody. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later determined that Floyd's "underlying health conditions," including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease, as well as the tactics used by police, contributed to his death.
The club, and Spanish-language radio station La Raza, burned down Thursday night during protests over the killing.
HUNDRED YEAR OLD ODDFELLOWS HALL BURNS DOWN IN MINNEAPOLIS
Maya Santamaria
19 hrs ·
RIP Oddfellows Building. Built in 1909 by the Internacional Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) The Oddfellows building was built to house the philanthropic organization by the same name whose mission was to help the less-advantaged and the poor. One of the iconic places in this wood structure building was the beautiful historic 3rd floor Oddfellows Ballroom, were just about every immigrant community in Minnesota used to host its dances and celebrations throughout its history. From the English, to the Irish, the Italian, the Afro-American, even the punk rock scene in Minneapolis, every part of the community celebrated and partied here. But no community took it on as their own like the Latino Community in South Minneapolis. In the turn of the Century, VANNANDY'S Nightclub made it the first Mexican-owned nightclub in Minneapolis. And then, we opened El Nuevo Rodeo in 2003 and it became the heart of the Latino Community and its celebrations for the next 17 years. Every weekend, the building was alive with dancing couples, shared drinks, dear friends, great food, and even greater concerts. During that time, in 2012, Santamaria Enterprises bought the building and we started PARAISO LOUNGE in the 3rd floor ballroom, and also named it the 27 Event Center, after its location as the heart of DOWNTOWN LONGFELLOW on 27th and Lake. And then came the enigmatic addition of the newest and hottest Latino Radio Station, LA RAZA, and Telemundo MN on the 4th floor. Like a cherry on top, the voice and heartbeat of our community in Minneapolis eminated from that building, day and night. Santamaria Broadcasting has proudly brought Spanish music, talk, and news from the top floor of the Oddfellows building since 2015, while promoting the events and concerts scheduled in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors at El Nuevo Rodeo below.
Both business gave back to the community, hosting free give-aways to children and families throughout the year and hosting community events, including The Cinco de Mayo Minneapolis Festival for over ten years in a row. Spirits of time past could be seen occupying the building, revealing themselves to those of us who slept and worked there overnight. The Town Talk diner and its Iconic Art Deco sign, registered to the Historical Buildings list, El Nuevo Rodeo Restaurant, Latino-owned Integrated Staffing, Ace Cash, and the new-to-open Scores Sports Bar, La Raza, and Sonoma Enterprises all lost their business in the tragic fire in the IOOF that proved to be the last dance for this Minneapolis treasure. She holds so many memories for so many people, her charred skeleton a symbol of this glorious past.
Farewell, IOOF, You will go down in history as the place "where it all started" in the Latino Community. We, like the rest of our neighbors, will rebuild. But the IOOF will never be duplicated.
It breaks my heart to see this big part of our community vandalized like this. George would not have condoned this.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10163571195830430&set=a.172222250429&type=3&theater
19 hrs ·
RIP Oddfellows Building. Built in 1909 by the Internacional Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) The Oddfellows building was built to house the philanthropic organization by the same name whose mission was to help the less-advantaged and the poor. One of the iconic places in this wood structure building was the beautiful historic 3rd floor Oddfellows Ballroom, were just about every immigrant community in Minnesota used to host its dances and celebrations throughout its history. From the English, to the Irish, the Italian, the Afro-American, even the punk rock scene in Minneapolis, every part of the community celebrated and partied here. But no community took it on as their own like the Latino Community in South Minneapolis. In the turn of the Century, VANNANDY'S Nightclub made it the first Mexican-owned nightclub in Minneapolis. And then, we opened El Nuevo Rodeo in 2003 and it became the heart of the Latino Community and its celebrations for the next 17 years. Every weekend, the building was alive with dancing couples, shared drinks, dear friends, great food, and even greater concerts. During that time, in 2012, Santamaria Enterprises bought the building and we started PARAISO LOUNGE in the 3rd floor ballroom, and also named it the 27 Event Center, after its location as the heart of DOWNTOWN LONGFELLOW on 27th and Lake. And then came the enigmatic addition of the newest and hottest Latino Radio Station, LA RAZA, and Telemundo MN on the 4th floor. Like a cherry on top, the voice and heartbeat of our community in Minneapolis eminated from that building, day and night. Santamaria Broadcasting has proudly brought Spanish music, talk, and news from the top floor of the Oddfellows building since 2015, while promoting the events and concerts scheduled in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors at El Nuevo Rodeo below.
Both business gave back to the community, hosting free give-aways to children and families throughout the year and hosting community events, including The Cinco de Mayo Minneapolis Festival for over ten years in a row. Spirits of time past could be seen occupying the building, revealing themselves to those of us who slept and worked there overnight. The Town Talk diner and its Iconic Art Deco sign, registered to the Historical Buildings list, El Nuevo Rodeo Restaurant, Latino-owned Integrated Staffing, Ace Cash, and the new-to-open Scores Sports Bar, La Raza, and Sonoma Enterprises all lost their business in the tragic fire in the IOOF that proved to be the last dance for this Minneapolis treasure. She holds so many memories for so many people, her charred skeleton a symbol of this glorious past.
Farewell, IOOF, You will go down in history as the place "where it all started" in the Latino Community. We, like the rest of our neighbors, will rebuild. But the IOOF will never be duplicated.
It breaks my heart to see this big part of our community vandalized like this. George would not have condoned this.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10163571195830430&set=a.172222250429&type=3&theater
No comments:
Post a Comment