A man who worked with George Floyd and police officer Derek Chauvin at a nightclub in Minneapolis said the two men always ‘fought’, while working together.
According to the man identified as David Pinney, who worked security with Floyd, 46, and Chauvin, 46, at El Nuevo Rodeo last year, their misunderstandings were caused by Derek being aggressive unnecessarily.
Pinney told CBS News that while they worked together, the two men ‘bumped heads’.
‘It has a lot to do with Derek being extremely aggressive within the club with some of the patrons, which was an issue,’ Pinney said.
According to Pinney, the two men knew each other ‘pretty well’ and that Chauvin likely knew who Floyd was when he arrested him on May 25, Daily Mail reports.
The club’s owner, Maya Santamaria, confirmed last month that the two men worked security at the establishment.
‘Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open,’ Santamaria told KSTP-TV in May.
When CBS interviewed Santamaria, she explained that she believed Chauvin was ‘afraid and intimidated’ by black people in general.
According to Santamaria, Chauvin had a tendency to flash his temper and overreact to situations.
‘He sometimes had a real short fuse and he seemed afraid,’ she said.
‘When there was an altercation he always resorted to pulling out his mace and pepper spraying everybody right away, even if I felt it was unwarranted.’
Floyd had also worked as a bouncer for a nearby restaurant, the Conga Latin Bistro.
Chauvin was fired before being arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He is being held on $1.25million bail.
Floyd’s death launched a nationwide call for defunding the police and prompted Black Lives Matter protests globally.
Earlier on Tuesday, family, friends, and guests packed the Fountain of Praise Church as they said their last goodbyes during an emotional service.
The hearse carrying Floyd’s body followed by his family headed to the cemetery Tuesday afternoon with a police escort.
Floyd traveled the last mile of his journey to his resting place in a horse drawn carriage.
