Sharpton on Derek Chauvin sentence: 'Justice would have been the maximum'
MINNEAPOLIS - Following the sentencing of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Rev. Al Sharpton spoke out alongside the Floyd family’s attorney Ben Crump, noting that the sentence of more than two decades exceeded their expectations, but fell short of what the family felt was justice.
"This verdict and this sentencing is the longest sentence we’ve seen but it is not justice because George Floyd is in a grave tonight even though Chauvin will be in jail. So let us not feel we are here to celebrate because justice would have been George Floyd never having been killed," Sharpton said.
"Justice would have been the maximum. We got more than we thought only because we have been disappointed so many times before," Sharpton said.
FILE - People surround civil rights lawyer and lead attorney for the George Floyd family, Benjamin Crump (C-R), and Reverend Al Sharpton (C-L) as well as Floyd family members, after the sentencing of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, o
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Crump said the sentence represented the opportunity for a "turning point" in America.
"We want to acknowledge all of the people who used their voice to say his name," Crump said, to which a crowd shouted, "George Floyd."
Chauvin, 45, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for pressing his knee to Floyd’s throat for up to 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020, as the Black man gasped that he couldn’t breathe before dying.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.