A Minneapolis man by the name of Ira Latrell Toles, 33, alleges that the police officer responsible for the death of George Floyd ran into his home and beat him up in his bathroom back in 2008. The officer then ended up shooting him in the stomach. The incident happened after a domestic violence call.
According to the Daily Beast, Toles didn’t immediately recognize officer Derek Chauvin in the now-viral video of the cop putting his knee in George Floyd’s neck. The officer ultimately killed Floyd after he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.
“The officer that killed that guy might be the one that shot me,” Toles texted his sister on Tuesday evening, according to The Daily Beast. “They said his last name, and I think it was him.”
“It’s him,” his sister replied.
Chauvin and the other three officers have since been fired for their involvement in the death of Floyd. The fatal incident ignited protests across the nation and calls for a federal hate-crime investigation.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, this Wednesday, demanded Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to charge and arrest Chauvin for Floyd’s death. “Why is the man who killed George Floyd, not in jail? If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now,” Frey said in a news conference.
Toles believes that Floyd’s unjustified death could have been prevented if Chauvin was punished for his violent arrest back in May 2008. He said that although he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, and reportedly still suffers pain from the bullet hole in his lower stomach, Chauvin continued his career as a police officer at the Minneapolis Police Department with a slap on the wrist.
“If he was reprimanded when he shot me, George Floyd would still be alive,” the now IT professional said.
Just before 2 a.m. on May 24, 2008, officers reportedly responded to a domestic violence call located at an apartment complex on Columbus Ave South. The 911 operator heard a woman yelling for someone to stop hitting her, a Minneapolis media outlet reported during the time.
Toles admits that the mother of his child called 911 when he was 21 at the time but was put off guard when cops showed up to the home without announcing themselves.
“When I saw that he breached the front door, I ran in the bathroom,” Toles said to The Daily Beast. “Then [Chauvin] starts kicking in that door. I was in the bathroom with a cigarette and no lighter.”
Toles, now 33, explained that Chauvin barged into the bathroom and started hitting him without warning. Toles said he started hitting Chauvin back because “my natural reaction to someone hitting me is to stop them from hitting me.”
“All I could do is assume it was the police because they didn’t announce themselves or ever give me a command,” he said. “I didn’t know what to think when he started hitting me. I swear he was hitting me with the gun.”
According to Minneapolis news reports, Chauvin assaulted and shot Toles after he allegedly reached for the officer’s gun. Toles said he doesn’t remember being shot; all he remembered was “being walked through the apartment until I collapsed in the main entrance where I was left to bleed until the paramedics came.”
“I remember my baby mother screaming and crying also,” he added.
“I would assume my reaction would be to try to stop him from hitting me. If his first reaction was hitting me in the face, that means I can’t see, and I’m too disoriented to first locate his gun and then try to take it from him and for what?” Toles said. “To turn a misdemeanor disorderly situation into a felony situation that could have resulted in me dying? He tried to kill me in that bathroom.”
Toles said he spent a day or two in jail. The pain pills he requested for his gut-wrenching pain while being detained were denied before his release.
Toles reportedly believes that Floyd’s death will bring the reform and change that is needed in Minneapolis. The fatal tragedy has absolutely angered residents who will make sure that justice is served. The 33-year-old did not file a complaint back in 2008, but now he wants to sue the Minneapolis Police Department for the extremely violent incident.
“We’ve all reached our tipping point. Water boils at 212 degrees,” he said. “We’re at 600.”
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