I’ll confess that I didn’t see this one coming, but I suppose in retrospect it’s really not all that shocking. Former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd, has been freed from jail after posing a $1 million bond. He had spent more than four months in the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights. It’s Minnesota’s only Level Five maximum security prison and it houses “high risk” prisoners from not only Minnesota but some surrounding states as well. He’s been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. You can expect some additional protests to follow this news.

The Minneapolis ex-cop charged in the police-custody death of George Floyd was released from prison Wednesday on a $1 million bond…

Chauvin, who had been behind bars for more than four months, had been the last of the four fired Minneapolis cops charged in the high-profile case to remain in jail pending trial.

Viral video of Floyd’s fatal encounter with police on Memorial Day sparked worldwide outrage and massive Black Lives Matter protests.

Details of how Chauvin arranged for the bond weren’t provided, but such arrangements are fairly common. Most bail bonds companies only require you to put ten percent of the total bond down as an initial payment. Even if Chauvin couldn’t come up with $100K in cash, he could probably have used his home as collateral or gotten assistance from his family and/or friends.

One of the first things to cross my mind after reading this news was whether or not it’s really safe for Chauvin to be released. It seems to me that a person in his position might be considered something of a suicide risk, though I would assume he’s undergone psychiatric evaluation by now. Even if he’s not a risk to himself, there’s also the question of whether or not any members of the mob might pay him a visit. George Floyd is probably the name heard most often in the protests and riots, even more so than Breonna Taylor or even Daniel Prude. I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that, but you can’t take anything for granted these days. There’s also always going to be a question as to whether or not the prisoner is a flight risk, but that seemingly wasn’t a concern for the court when it comes to Chauvin.

Chauvin’s history was a complicated one even before the fateful encounter with Floyd took place. He had received medals for valor over the course of his career as a law enforcement officer. He’s also a veteran who served as a military police officer in the Army. But he’d also managed to rack up seventeen complaints against him, some involving claims of excessive use of force. Most of those complaints are sealed and the only one that’s available to the public involved a traffic stop for speeding where Chauvin physically pulled a woman from the car.

We don’t know how his trial is going to play out, but it still doesn’t look like a slam dunk for the prosecutors. The video of the arrest certainly looks damning and coming up with an excuse for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes that will be palatable to the jury seems doubtful. But there have also been assertions made that Floyd actually died from an overdose of fentanyl, not the restraints placed on him. Add to that the fact that it only takes one juror to accept Chauvin’s story and the case could be effectively deadlocked before it even begins.

Chauvin’s trial isn’t even scheduled to begin until March 8th, so we have a long wait in front of us. And if he manages to walk away from that trial without a conviction, it’s a safe bet that we’ll see more massive demonstrations, unrest, and riots in the immediate aftermath.