George Floyd’s daughter wishes she could tell him ‘I love you’ during Derek Chauvin’s sentencing

George Floyd’s seven-year-old daughter Gianna Floyd said she wished she could tell her father she missed and loved him during former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s sentencing hearing.

In a two-minute prerecorded video played during victim impact statements on Friday afternoon, Gianna was asked what she would tell her father if she had a chance to speak to him.

‘I miss you and I love you,’ Gianna said in the video played in the Hennepin County Government Center.

Gianna added of her father, ‘I ask about him all the time’. She elaborated that she asks, ‘How did my dad get hurt?’

The young girl reminisced everyday life with her father, who died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on him for more than nine minutes.

‘We used to have dinner every single night before we went to bed,’ Gianna said. ‘My daddy always used to help me brush my teeth.’

A woman off the camera frame asked Gianna if wished her father was alive.

‘Yeah, but he is,’ Gianna replied.

‘Through his spirit?’ the woman asked.

Gianna answered: ‘Yes.’

The off-camera woman then asked Gianna what she would do when she is reunited with her father someday.

‘I want to play with him, have fun,’ Gianna said. ‘Go on a plane ride. And that’s it.’

Chauvin, dressed in a gray suit and wearing a mask, sat in silence and watched as the video played.

Gianna’s video was the first of four victim impact statements the prosecution played. George’s younger brother, Philonise Floyd, was the last. He spoke of Gianna during his statement.

‘My niece Gianna, she needs closure,’ Philonise told Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill. ‘I’m asking that you give Chauvin the maximum sentence possible.’

Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22-and-a-half years, which was higher than Minnesota’s guideline of about 12-and-a-half years for second-degree murder for a person with no criminal history like Chauvin. The sentence was shorter than the 30 years that the prosecution requested.

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