Community reacts to verdict

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Students Hopeful, But Work Is Needed, The Chronicle, Willimantic, Conn.
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Apr. 22—STORRS — For local college students, Wednesday's verdict against Derek Chauvin shows progress is being made toward racial injustice.

A Minnesota jury ruled Chauvin — the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, a Black man — guilty on murder and manslaughter charges for kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. He faces decades in prison.

Despite the verdict, students said more work is needed to fix what was referred to as a " broken system."

The day after Chauvin was found guilty, University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University students reacted to the situation.

"It's not even an issue of politics," said UConn senior Duygu Ozcan of Mansfield, an immigrant from Turkey who was dining at Dog Lane Caf? in Storrs. "It's human rights."

The incident inspired protests across the world about racial injustice and controversial police tactics.

" I think that the community needs to see that the justice system is taking things like this with the police force seriously," said ECSU junior Brianna Gill of Stafford Springs, who was at

VERDICT, Page 4

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