Three other officers charged for aiding George Floyd killing, Derek Chauvin charge upped to 2nd-degree murder
The three other now-fired police officers, who were present at the scene when George Floyd, an African-American man, died at the hands of a white policeman, have been charged.
In the aftermath of Floyd’s death at the hands of now-fired and arrested police officer Derek Chauvin in the presence of three other police officers, there have been cries of injustice. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, with the Hennepin County Medical Examiner saying that it had made “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation”. All four officers were fired last week.
Black Lives Matter activists and the general populace that has joined protests across the country have been demanding a harsher charge against Chauvin and charges against the other officers present at the scene, when Floyd passed out, reportedly unable to breathe because of Chauvin’s knee on his neck. This medical report has been largely contested, and an independent autopsy now has found evidence to the contrary. The autopsy commissioned by Floyd's family says compression to the neck and back, caused by the officer kneeling on him, led to a lack of blood flow to the brain.
On Wednesday, June 3, the three other former Minneapolis police officers were charged with aiding and abetting murder. In addition to this, Chauvin will now reportedly be charged with second-degree murder in addition to the previous charge against him, according to the records filed in Hennepin County Court by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane assisted Chauvin in arresting Floyd on the suspicion that Floyd passed a counterfeit bill. According to Minnesota state law, second-degree murder is not premeditated but the suspect did intend to cause death. The charge typically carries a maximum penalty of 40 years behind bars, compared with a maximum of 25 years for third-degree murder.
Per the Boston Globe, Lane and Kueng both joined the police department in February 2019. Neither has any complaints on their files. Before he was a police officer, Lane worked as a correctional officer at the Hennepin County juvenile jail and as a probation officer at a residential treatment facility for adolescent boys.
Kueng, reportedly, was a 2018 graduate of the University of Minnesota where he worked part-time as on-campus security. He also worked as a theft-prevention officer at Macy's while he was in college.
Thao reportedly joined the police force as a part-time community service officer in 2008 and was promoted to a police officer in 2009. He was laid off later that year due to budget cuts and was rehired in 2012.
Ellison said in a Wednesday press conference announcing the charges, “We’re here today because George Floyd is not here. He should be here. The world heard Floyd call out for his mama and, ‘Please don’t kill me.’”
“George Floyd mattered. He was loved, his family was important, his life had value, and we will seek justice for him and for you, and we will find it," Ellison said.
Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family’s lawyer tweeted after this announcement, “This is a bittersweet moment. We are deeply gratified that @AGEllison took decisive action, arresting and charging ALL the officers involved in #GeorgeFloyd's death and upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder. #JusticeForGeorge.”
Quincy Mason Floyd, George Floyd’s son, said in an interview on CNN after news of the charges broke: “We demand justice. My father shouldn’t have been killed like this. We want justice.”