The federal trial begins for 3 former police officers charged in George Floyd's death
Jury selection is set to begin Thursday in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers who were on the scene when fellow officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes and ultimately killed him.
This week's trial is one of a series of legal consequences for the four ex-officers charged by federal and state authorities in Floyd's killing, which set off a wave of global protests over racial justice and police accountability after it occurred in May 2020.
Chauvin is white and Floyd was Black, and a video of the arrest showed Floyd lying face-down on the street and repeatedly saying "I can't breathe" as he became unresponsive. The footage captured the attention of the world and served as a key piece of evidence at Chauvin's state trial last year.
Three other former Minneapolis police officers – Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane – will now stand trial in federal court on charges that they violated Floyd's civil rights by failing to provide him with medical aid during the encounter. Thao and Kueng are also charged with failing to stop Chauvin's use of force.
"This trial is really unique and important because it does present the question of the duty of officers on what they didn't do, as opposed to reviewing actions themselves," Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, told MPR.
The Associated Press reported that Kueng knelt on Floyd's back and Lane held down his legs, while Thao kept bystanders at bay.
Chauvin isn't on trial with the other officers because last month he pleaded guilty to federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights, resulting in Floyd's death.
A Minnesota jury found Chauvin guilty of Floyd's murder in a separate state trial in April 2021, and he is now serving a 22 1/2-year prison sentence.
The other three officers – Thao, Kueng and Lane – have also been brought up on state criminal charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter, but a Minnesota judge delayed that trial until after their federal case, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The state trial is expected to begin in March.
The Justice Department has also launched a separate civil investigation into possible patterns of discrimination and excessive force in the Minneapolis police department.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog. [Copyright 2022 NPR]
