Where are Wayne Reyes, Ira Latrell Toles and Leroy Martinez now? Derek Chauvin's 3 shooting cases before George Floyd
Derek Chauvin, the former cop with Minneapolis Police Department charged with the brutal murder of George Floyd, reportedly had a history of violence. The 45-year-old ex-officer is currently undergoing trial for choking Floyd with his knee for more than eight minutes, leading to his eventual death.
In his career of 19 years with the police, Chauvin had 18 complaints against him on official record. Prior to Floyd's death, in 2017, he had jammed his knee into the back of a 14-year-old boy, ignoring his pleas of not being able to breathe, Star Tribune reported. He followed a shockingly similar pattern with 46-year-old Floyd as well on May 25, 2020. Additionally, Chauvin was also involved in three separate shooting cases, one of which led to the death of 42-year-old Wayne Reyes back in 2006.
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Just want to add to this. Wayne Reyes was a Native American man who died bc of this officer. But Ira Toles was a black man who was shot and he survived. And Leroy Martinez survived. They survived. https://t.co/fHIYlwdTAa
— iceagebaby (@charitieropati) May 29, 2020
Who was Wayne Reyes?
In October 2006, six Minneapolis police officers were responding to call about a stabbing outside a pharmacy. The team of police officers included Derek Chauvin. Wayne Reyes, a 42-year-old Ojibwe man was suspected of stabbing his girlfriend and a friend, Insider reported. He was stopped in his truck by the police after a car chase, after which Reyes reportedly got out of his vehicle holding a shotgun, APTN News reported.
The police officers then fired at him, accusing Reyes of pointing the shotgun at them. The autopsy report later revealed that Reyes was shot 23 times.
He was a member of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Band in Minnesota. After George Floyd's death, as the name of Derek Chauvin surfaced in the media, people reached out to Wayne Reyes' family informing them about the incident. “I worked in civil rights and yes, they assassinated my brother so finally after 14 years there might be a little justice,” Wayne's brother Daniel Reyes told APTN News.
Where is Ira Latrell Toles now?
Two years later, in 2008, Chauvin a few other officers responded to a domestic violence call on Columbus Ave South. The police reached the apartment at around 2 am on May 24, 2008, where a 21-year-old Toles was staying with the mother of his baby. She had called the cops on him on complaints of domestic violence.
After the police officers barged into their home, Toles ran into the bathroom where Chauvin started kicking down the door. He broke into the bathroom soon and started to hit Toles. "All I could do is assume it was the police because they didn’t announce themselves or ever give me a command. I didn’t know what to think when he started hitting me. I swear he was hitting me with the gun," Toles later told The Daily Beast.
This murderer nearly killed the man on the right (Ira Latrell Toles) in 2008 by beating and shooting him twice when called for domestic violence. Toles says if this murderer was sentenced in 2008 George Floyd would still be alive now. He shouldn’t have been given a 2nd chance. pic.twitter.com/7MyDb5zSH5
— 𝑀𝒾𝒶😼 (@miavailx) May 29, 2020
Amid the scuffle, Toles allegedly reached for an officer's gun when Chauvin directly shot and wounded him. He was then escorted to the Hennepin County Medical Center where he recovered for three days. Chauvin apparently shot him at such close range that the bullet shot through his groin and came out his left butt cheek, before hitting the bathroom wall, The Daily Beast stated. Toles is now 33-years-old and reportedly still suffers from pain from his bullet wound.
Where is Leroy Martinez now?
In 2011, Derek Chauvin was involved in another police shooting, which took place in the Little Earth residential community in Ogema Place. Around 11:15 pm on August 8, 2011, a team of five police officers including Chauvin responded to a shooting. The suspect was 23-year-old Leroy Martinez, an Alaskan Native American man who was living with his relatives in the locality, and reportedly targeted a resident.
As the officers spotted Martinez fleeing the scene, they took chase and asked him to drop his gun. Ultimately one of the officers shot him in the torso. After investigating the incident, the then Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan stated that the police officers acted "appropriately and courageously", reported CBSN Minnesota.
However, an eyewitness account reported by the Star Tribune contradicted the police's claim that Martinez was armed when he was shot. "He had no reason to shoot that little boy," eyewitness Delora Iceman told the outlet. According to her, Martinez had dropped the weapon and held his arms in the air but the police shot him nonetheless.