MINNEAPOLIS (NewsNation Now) – George Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter shared what she wished she could tell her late father in a video shown ahead of Derek Chauvin’s sentencing.
“I miss you and I love you,” Gianna Floyd said in the video when asked what she would say to her dad.
Gianna Floyd’s video interview was played in court Friday during the sentencing hearing for Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death.
Gianna Floyd said in the victim impact statement that she believed her dad was still with her in spirit and that she wants to know how he got hurt.
“We used to have dinner meals every single night before we went to bed,” she said. “My daddy always used to help me brush my teeth.”
She had a long list of things she would still have liked to do with her father. “I want to play with him, have fun, go on a plane ride.”
Hers was the first of several victim impact statements given by Floyd’s family members at Chauvin’s sentencing.
Floyd’s daughter most recently went to the White House on the anniversary of Floyd’s death to advocate for police reform.
Biden has mentioned his conversations with the little girl multiple times when talking about Floyd’s legacy. In remarks following Chauvin’s guilty verdict in April, he shared a poignant moment he had with her after the funeral.
“She said to me, and I’ll never forget it, ‘Daddy changed the world,'” Biden said. “I told her this afternoon, ‘Daddy did change the world.'”
Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The second-degree murder count, the most serious charge, carried up to 40 years in prison.
He was sentenced on Friday to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.