Ex-Riverside Chief Reflects On George Floyd Incident

RIVERSIDE, IL — Former Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel, who retired last month after 37 years with the department, said he had an immediate reaction when he saw the footage of the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis last year.

"When I saw the video, I immediately knew it was wrong. There wasn't a single police chief that I talked to who didn't think (the police officer) should be charged," Weitzel said in an interview Thursday. "When that video hit, everyone knew it was wrong."

The other officers in the incident, Weitzel said, should have intervened and stopped the higher-ranking officer, Derek Chauvin, who has since been convicted in Floyd's death.

"In a situation where an officer blatantly violates rights or commits a criminal act, the chain of command goes out the window," Weitzel said.

Weitzel said it's the job of a police chief to weed out bad officers.

"Law enforcement has bad applies, and so does every profession," he said. "Officers go through so much vetting."

He said some people have the misconception that officers get up in the morning with the intention of violating rights.

"That's ridiculous and false," he said. "I feel all the officers I have dealt with are compassionate. Police officers are human beings. They make mistakes."

He also said some people believe that police officers resist training.

"Officers usually complain because they don't get enough training," he said.

As with other towns, Riverside police provided security for Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year. Some protesters screamed at officers, Weitzel said, but there's no law against yelling at the police.

"Our job is to protect them from people with different opinions," Weitzel said. "After some of those marches, the leaders of the marches came over to speak with me and thanked me for what the police did."