A severed pig’s head and splattered blood were found outside the one-time California home of a use-of-force expert who testified on behalf of the officer accused of killing George Floyd over the weekend.
Blood was also smeared on the house in Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco, that once belonged to Barry Brodd, a retired police officer who was on the stand in the Minneapolis murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin last week, according to a police statement.
“It appears the suspects in this vandalism were targeting Mr. Brodd for his testimony,” the Santa Rosa Police Department said. “Mr. Brodd has not lived at the residence for a number of years and is no longer a resident of California.”
Brodd was the first witness to say he believed Chauvin was following proper police practice when he kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes on May 25, 2020. The Minneapolis police chief and several officers all testified Chauvin’s actions were not justified.
“I felt that Officer Chauvin’s interactions with Mr. Floyd were following his training, following current practices in policing and objectively reasonable,” Brodd testified last Tuesday, NPR reported.
Chauvin is facing charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Closing arguments began Monday.
In the Santa Rosa police statement, officers got a call about vandalism at the home around 3 a.m. PT Saturday.
“Officers arrived to find the front of the victim’s house smeared with what appeared to be animal blood and a decapitated pig’s head near the front porch,” the statement said.
The suspects were dressed in black and ran away.
“Because Mr. Brodd no longer lives in the city of Santa Rosa, it appears the victim was falsely targeted,” police said.
About 45 minutes later, a statue of a hand at a nearby mall was also vandalized with what appeared to be animal blood, police said. “The suspects also left a sign in front of the statue which had a picture of a pig and read ‘Oink Oink,'” the statement said. A description of the suspects at the mall matched that of the suspects at Brood’s former home, police said.
Police have not announced any arrests and said the suspects face felony vandalism charges because the damage to the house exceeded $400.
In a statement after Brodd’s testimony, Santa Rosa Police Chief Rainer Navarro said the former officer’s comments “do not reflect the values and beliefs of the Santa Rosa Police Department.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Newmax
