3 FORMER MINNEAPOLIS OFFICERS FOUND GUILTY OF VIOLATING GEORGE FLOYD’S CIVIL RIGHTS

Fri 25 January 2022:

Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty on Thursday of violating George Floyd’s civil rights, a black man whose death in May 2020 provoked nationwide outrage.

After a month-long federal trial in Saint Paul, Minneapolis’ sister city, Tou Thao, 36, J. Alexander Kueng, 28, and Thomas Lane, 38, were convicted guilty of “deliberate indifference” to Floyd’s medical needs.

When a fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, used “unreasonable force” against Floyd, Thao and Kueng were found guilty of failing to interfere.

Lane was not charged with the second charge of failing to intervene as video of the arrest shows he suggested on two occasions that Floyd be rolled onto his side.

A central question in the case was whether or not an officer has a duty to intervene in another’s misconduct. This is a rare instance of police officers being criminally responsible for the use of excessive force by a colleague.

Chauvin, a white officer who was the senior officer on the scene, kneeled on the neck of handcuffed Floyd for nearly ten minutes, until he passed out and died. Having been convicted of murder last year, he is serving 22 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors argued in US District Court in St. Paul that the men knew from their training and from “basic human decency” that they had a duty to help Floyd as he begged for his life before falling limp beneath the knee of the defendants’ former colleague, Derek Chauvin.

Floyd’s death, which was filmed by a bystander in a viral video, sparked protests in the United States and around the world against racial injustice and police brutality.

Brandon Williams, Floyd’s nephew, described it as a “small victory” to reporters after the verdict was handed down.

“Often times, you know, officers kill Black and brown men and women and we get little to no consequences,” Williams said. “A lot of times, we don’t even get charges, let alone a conviction.”

Eight women and four men on the all-white jury deliberated for 13 hours over two days before finding the three former officers guilty.

The maximum sentence is life in prison but the three are not expected to receive such a severe punishment.

“George Floyd should be alive today,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland in response to the verdict in the high-profile case.

“Today’s verdict recognizes that two police officers violated the Constitution by failing to intervene to stop another officer from killing George Floyd, and three officers violated the Constitution by failing to provide aid to Mr. Floyd in time to prevent his death,” Garland said in a statement.

“The Justice Department will continue to seek accountability for law enforcement officers whose actions, or failure to act, violate their constitutional duty to protect the civil rights of our citizens.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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