Local activist reacts to Chauvin sentence

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Local activist Tory Lowe is reacting after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced for killing George Floyd.

A judge sentenced Chauvin to 270 months, which is 22 and a half years.

“Twenty-two and a half years is a significant amount of time, but it’s not the time we really wanted,” Lowe said. “We wanted 33 years, plus.” 

Lowe says the sentence is a step in the right direction.

“We gotta take what we can get,” Lowe said. “I think we have a blueprint now of how to deal with rogue policing in America.”

In court, the judge made it clear the 22 and a half year sentence was 10 years more than the presumptive sentence in Minnesota.

“This is based on your abuse of position of trust and authority and also the particular cruelty shown to George Floyd,” said Judge Peter Cahill.

Lowe says now it’s time to make sure other cases like this are prosecuted, too.

“Hopefully, [district attorneys] across the country will follow that format and start prosecuting these officers harming unarmed Black people,” Lowe said.