3 officers in Floyd case convicted
All failed to aid victim, two didn’t stop Chauvin, jury finds
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty Thursday of federal crimes for failing to intervene as another officer killed George Floyd by pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
A federal jury determined that the officers — Tou Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and Thomas Lane, 38 — had willfully violated Floyd’s constitutional rights by not providing medical care when his pulse stopped and that two of them were also guilty of not intervening to stop a fellow officer Derek Chauvin from keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck.
Kueng and Lane helped Chauvin restrain Floyd while he was handcuffed facedown on the pavement. Thao stood nearby, keeping bystanders away. Chauvin was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to 22½ years in prison.
Sentencing will be determined at a future hearing. Judge Paul A. Magnuson could sentence the officers to between a year and life in prison. They still face state charges of aiding and abetting murder, with a trial scheduled for this year.
Legal experts and racial justice activists had been closely watching the case, saying it could have more ramifications for policing than even Chauvin’s murder convictions. At the heart of this case was a more widespread problem, experts say, than a single officer’s act of violence: the tendency of officers to stand by when they witness a fellow officer committing a crime.
The jurors’ decision, which came after about 13 hours of deliberations and following a monthlong trial, suggested that they agreed with the prosecution’s arguments that the officers knew in the moment that Floyd was in severe medical distress and that Chauvin was breaking the law.
This case is believed to be the first time the federal government has charged police officers for failing to intervene against a more senior officer who was using excessive force, according to Christy E. Lopez, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
She said the guilty verdicts could significantly change law enforcement culture, compelling agencies to make sure that officers are properly trained and are upholding their duties.
Thao, a veteran officer who was Chauvin’s partner, kept a crowd of bystanders at bay while Lane and Kueng, both rookies, struggled to arrest Floyd after a convenience store clerk said he had used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
All three officers, who along with Chauvin were fired a day after the killing, were charged with one count of failing to provide medical aid. Kueng and Thao were also charged with failing to intervene and stop Chauvin’s use of force; Lane, who twice asked Chauvin if they should roll Floyd onto his side so he could more easily breathe, did not face that charge.
During the trial, prosecutors called to the witness stand doctors, police officers, people who witnessed the murder, and the paramedic who arrived at the scene and said he believed that Floyd was already dead. Prosecutors relied on video evidence from bystanders, the officers’ body-worn cameras and city surveillance cameras that provided a second-by-second record of the killing.
Unlike Chauvin, who did not testify at his trial, each of the three officers took the stand in his own defense and all said they believed Chauvin, as the senior officer, was in charge and knew what he was doing. They also said they did not recognize that Floyd was in the throes of a medical emergency.
“I think I would trust a 19-year veteran to figure it out,” Thao said. Kueng, who had Chauvin as one of his field training officers, said, “He was my senior officer, and I trusted his advice.”
George Perry Floyd, 46, was a Black security guard who had lost his job in the coronavirus pandemic. Chauvin and Lane are white, Thao is Asian American, and Kueng is Black.
The trial and its outcome were another milestone in nearly two years of upheaval and trauma for the Twin Cities area, with several overlapping crises centered on the issues of police brutality and racial injustice.
During the four weeks of the trial, family members of Floyd and his girlfriend, Courteney Ross, who testified at Chauvin’s trial, were frequently seen in the court’s gallery.
The trial of Kueng, Lane and Thao on state charges of aiding and abetting murder is scheduled for June. During their federal trial this week, state prosecutors who secured Chauvin’s conviction and are in charge of the state case against the three officers, were spotted in the audience, taking notes.