POLITICO What About the Cops Who Watched George Floyd Die? Whether or not Derek Chauvin is convicted, George Floyd’s death revealed another deep policing problem: the failure of fellow officers to intervene. A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave in Minneapolis, Minn. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images By ROSA BROOKS Link Copied Rosa Brooks is a law professor at Georgetown and the author of Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City . Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer currently on trial for the killing of George Floyd, is an all-too familiar type: a bully with a badge and gun. During his 19 years as an officer, Chauvin was the subject of a score of misconduct complaints. He kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes not because he had to, but because he could.