Former police officer and current UFC heavyweight contender Chris Daukaus shared his perspective of the Velasquez case.
Prior to focusing solely on his MMA career, Daukaus spent 11 years in the Philadelphia Police Department.
Given his extensive knowledge of the law, Daukaus can offer a unique view of the Velasquez situation. The former UFC Heavyweight champion is facing attempted murder charges after shooting at an individual who is indicted for abusing one of Velasquez’s underage relatives.
Daukaus says that as a father, he understands Velasquez’s actions, but he also knows that he will have to serve time in jail for his actions.
“Yeah, so as a father and as a fighter, I’m OK with what he did,” Daukaus said in an Interview with Sherdog. “Yes, it sucks that he shot the wrong person. I understand where he’s coming from. I understand the emotions that he must have felt and I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head, and I couldn’t imagine being in that situation.
“As a former law enforcement officer, as a former police officer, dealing with the circumstances of the case and the facts of the case, I knew he was gonna be locked up. And he’s going to be charged, and it’s just (about) what he gets charged with during the trial. It’s a really bad situation, I think. But we’ll see how it plays out as far as the timeline goes.”
On top of the attempted murder charges, Velasquez is facing assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at a motor vehicle, and discharging a firearm from a vehicle with intent.
The former champion had his bail request denied and remains locked up in Santa Clara County Main Jail until his trial.
Daukaus also shared what he believes could happen during the Velasquez trial.
“So if it was a quote-unquote ‘crime of passion’ with his emotions and if he just reacted, that plays a factor as opposed to him planning a revenge factor against this person. That also plays a factor in it.”
“But as a father and as a father of a young son and a soon-to-be daughter, I can respect what he did; I understand what he did. But as a former law enforcement officer, like I said, he broke the law; he needs to be locked up.”
Many attribute Velasquez’s situation to the lack of faith in the American criminal system.
Velasquez’s rage-induced mayhem happened only after the alleged child abuser was out of custody, being released without bail. According to Daukaus, that is a clear example of how the American people lost faith in their law enforcement institution.
“But I guess that goes to show the type of faith or lack of faith that an individual has in the criminal justice system here in America, which you can tell from not only this story but other stories, it seems to be broken at this point in time,” Daukaus said. “I really wish that it was fixed. But there seems to be something really wrong if the guy who did that to Cain Velasquez is now free to go out in society and back to his normal life after what he’s done, allegedly, to someone or other people.”
Chris Daukaus will be looking to come back after a KO loss to Derrick Lewis on March 26. The Heavyweight will be headlining the next UFC event against the number 4 ranked Heavyweight fighter Curtis Blaydes.