Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all charges, but that’s not the end of the prosecution for George Floyd’s death. Cases are ongoing against three other officials involved in the fatal arrest.
The three agents – Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane – are each facing two charges: complicity in second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, although Reuters reports that the criminal law guidelines reduce that to 15 years. ; and complicity in second degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Hennepin County Jail
After a jury found Chauvin guilty of Tuesday all three count He faced the death of George Floyd – second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter – Ben Crump, the attorney for Floyd’s family, called the case “ a turning point in American history for accountability to law enforcement . Next, prosecutors will present their case against the three other prosecutors, whose joint trial will begin on August 23.
All three were released from prison after posting $ 750,000 bail. Everything of the officers were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department just days after Floyd’s death.
Lane, who was 37 at the time, and Keung, who was 26, were the first to approach Floyd while he was in his car after receiving a call about a man who allegedly used a counterfeit $ 20 bill. Lane approached the driver’s side where Floyd was sitting, and while they were talking he took out his gun and aimed it at Floyd’s window until Floyd put his hands on the wheel. Lane then put his gun back into its holster, prosecutors said.
Lane ordered Floyd to leave his car and handcuffed him to tell him he had been arrested for possession of counterfeit money. Prosecutors said that after Keung and Lane tried to take Floyd to their police car, he froze and fell to the ground, telling the officers that he did not resist but did not want to sit in the backseat of the car and was claustrophobic.
At that point, prosecutors said, prosecutors Chauvin and Thao arrived.
Chauvin, 44 at the time, was the oldest of the four officers and had been with the police for nearly 20 years. Thao, then 34, had rejoined the police force in 2012 after being fired as a rookie in 2009. He had previously been the subject of an outrageous lawsuit, for which the victim received a $ 25,000 settlement.
The officers made several attempts to get Floyd into a police car when Floyd, whose hands were handcuffed behind his back, repeatedly told him he couldn’t breathe.
Chauvin then pulled Floyd to the ground in a scene that has since been viewed a million times cell phone video captured by teen Darnella Frazier. While Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, Kueng held Floyds’s back and Lane held on to his legs.
Floyd said repeatedly, “I can’t breathe,” and called out for his mother.
Thao watched as the other three officers restrained Floyd. Prosecutors say he was concerned about the number of bystanders who had gathered and stood between the officers and the civilians. When a bystander stepped off the curb and asked Chauvin to get rid of Floyd, prosecutors said Thao “put his hands on the civilian to stop him.”
One of those bystanders, Donald Williams, took the stand during the first day of Chauvin’s trial and testified that when Thao ordered the onlookers to stay behind, he said to them, “This is what drugs do to you.”
Williams said Thao “controlled the people – he controlled me,” adding, “He was the man who made it go on while it went on.”
Prosecutors also said that at one point, while holding Floyd’s legs in check, Lane asked, “Should we roll him onto his side?” Chauvin replied, “No, I’ll stay where we have him.”
Lane said, “I’m worried about agitated delirium or whatever,” referring to a controversial phrase often cited by police and paramedics to describe a condition sometimes associated with drug use. Chauvin replied, “That’s why we have him on his stomach.”
After about 8 minutes and 24 seconds into the video, prosecutors said, Floyd stopped moving. Lane asked, “Would you like to roll him on his side?” Keung checked Floyd’s pulse for one and said, “I couldn’t find one.”