US: Ex-cops convicted for roles in George Floyd killing
February 25, 2022
A US jury found three former Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating the civil rights of George Floyd.
Following a month-long federal trial in Saint Paul, Tou Thao (36) J Alexander Kueng (28) and Thomas Lane (38) were convicted on Thursday for showing "deliberate indifference" to Floyd's medical needs.
The officers failed to give aid to the handcuffed Black man, who was killed after being pinned to the ground under a colleague's knee, the jury found.
Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop the use of "unreasonable force" against Floyd as a fourth officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes until he passed out and died.
Chauvin was found guilty of murder last year and is serving a prison sentence of 22 years.
What prosecutors said about the case
Prosecutor Manda Sertich said in her closing arguments to the jury that all three officers "knew that George Floyd couldn't breathe, didn't have a pulse and was dying."
"Make no mistake, this is a crime," Sertich added.
The jury, which included eight women and four men, deliberated for 13 hours over two days before convicting the three former officers on all charges.
The men will remain free on bail pending their sentencing hearing, which is yet to be scheduled.
Floyd was detained for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to pay for cigarettes at a party store on a holiday weekend in May 2020.
His death sparked nationwide protests for racial justice.
"This is just accountability," his brother Philonise Floyd said after Thursday's verdict.
"It could never be justice because I can never get my brother back," he said.
dvv/rt (AFP, Reuters, AP)