"Got To Control Him": Cop Defends Restraint Of George Floyd In New Video Chauvin's comments, to witness Charles McMillian, are the first time the former Minneapolis police officer is known to have offered any hint of what he was thinking as he kept his knee on the Black man's neck for over nine minutes on Memorial Day 2020. Updated: April 01, 2021 10:39 am IST Derek Chauvin defends his treatment of George Floyd to a bystander. In newly released body-camera footage, Derek Chauvin defends his treatment of George Floyd to a bystander, saying Floyd "was probably on something" and needed to be under "control."