Weeks after graduation, Mr. Chauvin started out as a prep cook at Tinucci’s, a restaurant 10 minutes from his home. He enrolled that fall at the local technical college to study “amount of food preparation.”
But Mr. Chauvin decided he wanted a uniform.
He studied law enforcement at a community college; eventually, she would also earn a law enforcement degree. After joining the military police, he was sent to a US Army base in Germany, where he studied for the Minnesota Police Exam in his spare time. He didn’t socialize much or drink alcohol.
“He volunteered to be a designated driver for the guys who wanted to go into town at night and have a few beers,” said Jerry Obieglo, a platoon sergeant who supervised Mr. Chauvin.
On his way home in September 2000, at age 24, he reported to the Minneapolis police.
From the beginning, Mr. Chauvin stood out as an enthusiast. When he showed up for training after police academy, he showed up in a brand new white Crown Victoria outfitted to look like a police car, he recalled to an officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because talking to the media could make get fired.
When leaving work, most officers dressed casually. But Mr. Chauvin, who stood erect as if he were still in the military, kept his full uniform, his pants tighter than most people wore, and his boots polished.
“In a group setting, he would never connect and stay there like a young child,” said the officer. He added: “I was discouraged by his lack of communication skills. You never felt I was present.
Mr. Chauvin landed at the Third Enclosure, one of the busiest in the city.
The biggest call of his young career came when he was 30, in 2006: shortly after midnight, he and five other officers chased a car driven by a man suspected of stabbing two friends. The man soon pointed a clipped shotgun at officers, police said. They shot the man, fatally. Mr. Chauvin received a medal of valor.
