George Floyd and Derek Chauvin worked security together at a restaurant for at least a year, owner says

Minneapolis business owner Maya Santamaria

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter)

last updated 29 May 2020

Before Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on George Floyd's neck on a Minneapolis street, they worked together at a nightclub not far from where the incident happened.

Chauvin was fired as a Minneapolis police officer after he held Floyd down as Floyd protested "I can't breathe." Protests have since broken out around the 3rd Minneapolis Police Precinct — which is just a block away from the El Nuevo Rodeo restaurant and dance club where Chauvin and Floyd once worked security.

Maya Santamaria, who sold El Nuevo Rodeo a few months ago, tells Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP that Chauvin "was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open." Floyd also worked at the club for around a year, but as a bouncer, Santamaria said. However, the two men were unlikely to have recognized each other because "Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside," Santamaria continued.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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