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Reuters

Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty on Thursday of depriving George Floyd of his rights by failing to give aid to the handcuffed black man pinned beneath a colleague’s knee.
The jury also found that the conduct of officers Tou Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and Thomas Lane, 38, caused Floyd’s death, a finding that can affect the severity of their sentence.
The case hinged on questions about when an officer has a duty to intervene in another’s misconduct. It is a rare instance of police officers being held criminally responsible for a colleague’s excessive force.
All three men will remain free on bail pending their sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.


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 killing sparked protests in cities around the world against police brutality and racism.
Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of Floyd’s murder at a separate state trial last year and sentenced to 22½ years in prison. Although race was not part of the state or federal charges, Chauvin’s conviction was seen as a landmark rebuke of the disproportionate use of police force against black Americans.
In December, Chauvin pleaded guilty to the federal charge of violating Floyd’s rights during the arrest in a Minneapolis intersection on May 25, 2020.
Derek Chauvin pleads guilty to violating George Floyd’s rights
Under Chauvin’s plea agreement, federal prosecutors are expected to seek a 25-year sentence to run concurrently with his state prison sentence. His three former colleagues face years in prison on the federal charges, and are also due to stand trial in Minneapolis in June on state charges of aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder.
Widely seen cellphone video showed Chauvin, 45, grinding his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as horrified onlookers yelled at him to get off.
Thao could be seen steps away from Chauvin, telling onlookers to stay on the pavement and rebuffing their concerns. Kueng and Lane were to Chauvin’s right, pinning down Floyd’s buttocks and legs.
All three testified in their own defence. Each acknowledged they knew they had a duty of care to people in their custody. But they and their lawyers told jurors they did not realise at the time that Floyd was in dire need of medical aid or that Chauvin’s use of force was excessive so they could not have been acting with deliberate indifference.

To rebuff this, prosecutors repeatedly played videos showing Floyd’s distress was plain to bystanders, including children and an off-duty firefighter, who shouted that Floyd was passing out and begging the police to check his pulse.
The three defendants all described deferring to the authority of Chauvin, the most senior officer at the scene with 19 years at the Minneapolis Police Department. They said they assumed he must have known what he was doing.
Kueng and Lane, who first handcuffed Floyd on suspicion of using a fake US$20 bill in a nearby store, also noted they were rookies only a few days out of training, which lasted more than a year. Thao had been on the force for eight years.
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In a closing argument before deliberations began, LeeAnn Bell, a federal prosecutor, said there were no “free passes” under the US Constitution, which guarantees that people not face excessive force or be deprived of medical care when the government takes them into custody.
“There’s no pass for, ‘I was a brand new officer.’ There’s no pass for, ‘It would have been hard or uncomfortable to speak up,’” she said. “Our constitution weighs the risk and our constitution says you must act.”
Medical experts have testified that Floyd almost certainly would have survived the arrest if he had been rolled onto his side once the officers restrained him, as the officers acknowledged they had been taught to do.


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Three ex-US police officers found guilty of violating George Floyd’s rights

(From left) Former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao have been convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Photos: Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Courtney Ross, girlfriend of George Floyd, speaks at a news conference during the trial of three former Minneapolis police officers on charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights in a deadly May 2020 arrest, outside court in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

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Former police officer Kim Potter reacts as Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu reads the verdict on Thursday. Photo: Court TV via AP

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Daunte Wright’s brother, Damik Wright (in blue), reacts to the outcome in Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial outside the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

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The jury also found that the conduct of Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane had caused the black man’s death
The three men had failed to help Floyd as he was pinned beneath colleague Derek Chauvin’s knee



The jury also found that the conduct of Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane had caused the black man’s death


Racism and other prejudice

United States