Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night ended an interview with a former New York City corrections officer after the guest criticized former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for using excessive force when he killed George Floyd.
The Tucker Carlson Tonight host was discussing the guilty verdict with former New York corrections officer Ed Gavin. When Gavin suggested police should do research and refrain from using excessive force, Carlson responded with a sudden, unhinged laugh.
On Tuesday afternoon, a jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Footage of the incident showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes as he gasped for air. The incident triggered a nationwide reckoning and protests around the country against police brutality and systemic racism.
In an interview with ex-corrections officer Ed Gavin on Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host started by asking, “Who’s going to be a cop now, do you think?”
Gavin responded, “I think people will still become police officers. This really is a learning experience for everyone. Let’s face it: what we saw in that video was pure savagery. I mean, the documentary evidence showed the police officer putting his knee on the perpetrator’s neck while he was rear-cuffed and his stomach was on the ground, causing positional asphyxia.”
Gavin continued, “What I’d like to see is more training for police. I’d like to see the police trained as EMTs, like in the fire department.”
The former law enforcement officer went on to say that although he “used force” on hundreds of people during his decades in law enforcement, he “never had anybody go unconscious.”
Gavin told Carlson, “That was clearly an excessive, unjustified use of force. I think the verdict was just…. It was an open-and-shut case.”
That was when Carlson grew angry and defensive, asking Gavin, “Do we enforce the law?” And Carlson implied that police will no longer be able to protect the public, telling Gavin, “The guy who did it looks like he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison. I’m kind of more worried about the rest of the country, which thanks to police inaction — in case you haven’t noticed — is like, boarded up. So, that’s more my concern.”
And when Gavin tried to speak, Carlson abruptly ended the interview, saying, “Nope, done.”