The Dodge County Sheriff says while he doesn’t condone the actions by a Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd he wouldn’t go so far as to call it a racist incident. Sheriff Dale Schmidt says he doesn’t know what the mindset of officer Derek Chauvin was as he was placing his knee on Floyd’s neck. “I know a lot of people like to throw out there well it has to be racism. Well you don’t what’s in the mind of that person,” Schmidt told WFDL news. “It certainly may not be racism at all. So I think people are jumping to conclusions about that. Just because the person (Floyd) is black does not mean it’s a racist act.” Schmidt says in his mind the riots that followed are equally as frustrating as the officer’s actions. “Yes it’s disappointing and frustrating and angers us that this individual did this, but it’s even equally frustrating and upsetting that the reaction across this country has been so divisive when law enforcement generally understands it. We don’t do that and that’s what so frustrating I think to a lot of law enforcement officers.” Schmidt says racism is not a problem in his department.
