*Four former Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of George Floyd pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges they violated Floyd’s civil rights during his arrest in May 2020.
Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao have been charged with violating Floyd’s constitutional rights in ways that “resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, George Floyd,” according to the federal grand jury indictment.
Per CNN, a federal grand jury indicted the ex-cops in May. Thao and Kueng also were charged for failure to intervene while Chauvin used his knee on Floyd’s neck to crush the life out of him.
Floyd, a Black man, died on Memorial Day in 2020 after Chauvin, who is white, pinned his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd cried out for his mother and said “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times. Video footage of the fatal encounter went viral, fueling worldwide protests in response to Floyd’s killing.
Source: Former Minneapolis Officers Plead Not Guilty to Violating George Floyd’s Civil Rights
