OJ Simpson said Tuesday Derek Chauvin used “unnecessary force” in his apprehension of George Floyd while defending Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) “call to arms” regarding her Saturday comments on Chauvin’s trial.
“I thought it was a classic case of depraved indifference. I thought it was unnecessary force and no matter which side you’re on,” Simpson said.
“I think everybody would pretty much have to agree that if those deputies and Chauvin would have gotten off of George Floyd, there was no chance George Floyd was going to get up and try to run… try to attack them in handcuffs, ” he said. “That didn’t seem to be his personality.”
Simpson continued, “It seemed that the only problem was that, he has a little problem with claustrophobia, I guess, and the smallness of the backseat of that [police] car, which had to be pretty tough on a guy his size.”
Simpson also said he “understood” what Rep. Maxine Waters was saying regarding her “call to arms… not to physical harm but a cause to work and vote.” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called a full House vote Tuesday to censure Waters for her comments in which all House Democrats voted along party lines to protect Waters.
Waters used confrontational language Saturday regarding the case, alerting Judge Peter Cahill, who is presiding over the Derek Chauvin trial in Hennepin County, Minnesota, to say he hoped “elected officials would stop talking about this case.”
Cahill said to Chauvin’s defense lawyer, “I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”
As for Simpson, he was acquitted for beating his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman after the Rodney King upheaval in Los Angeles. It only took the jurors 4 hours to deliberate. “Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and other charges and was released from a Nevada prison in 2017 after nine years,” Fox News reported.