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

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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Andrea Jenkins, the vice president of Minneapolis' city council, also shared the story on MSNBC. Kathryn Krawczyk