A Minneapolis police officer videotaped on Monday holding a black man to the ground with his knee during an arrest has become the target of false claims on social media that attempt to tie him to political agendas and racist ideologies.
Twitter and Facebook posts with hundreds of thousands of views on Wednesday claimed Officer Derek Chauvin was pictured wearing a "Make Whites Great Again" hat and standing onstage at a Donald Trump rally, neither of which turned out to be true.
Chauvin has been the subject of national attention since a video emerged Monday that showed him kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed black man during an arrest outside a south Minneapolis convenience store. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital Monday, and Chauvin and three other officers were dismissed from the department on Tuesday.
One post circulating widely across social media platforms juxtaposed a screenshot of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck with a photo of a man holding a blackberry between his thumb and index finger and wearing a red baseball cap that said "Make Whites Great Again."
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