4 Minneapolis officers charged

New court documents detail George Floyd’s final 20 minutes.

Derek Chauvin now faces a second-degree murder count; others are accused of aiding, abetting.

MINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd told the four Minneapolis police officers, “I’m about to die.”

“You are talking fine,” an officer responded.

In the final 20 minutes of Floyd’s life, one officer pulled a gun on him as he pleaded with officers not to put him in the back seat because he was claustrophobic, according to charging documents filed Wednesday by state prosecutors. Following reports that a man had used a counterfeit $20 bill, the officers had pulled Floyd out of his car.

Later, another officer expressed concern, asking whether they should roll Floyd on his side.

Officer Derek Chauvin, who was recorded on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he begged for air before he died, replied, “No, staying put where we got him.”

Now, the three other Minneapolis police officers at the scene of Floyd’s death will face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, the Minnesota attorney general announced Wednesday.

State Atty. Gen. Keith Ellison also elevated charges against Chauvin to seconddegree murder.

Ellison said during a news conference Wednesday that he does not believe “one successful prosecution can rectify” the pain felt by the community.

“He should be here,” Ellison said of Floyd. “But he’s not.”

All four officers were fired shortly after Floyd’s death.

Arrest warrants were issued for the three other officers, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane. Aiding and abetting seconddegree murder is a felony under Minnesota state law.

Chauvin, who is being held at a state prison, was initially charged last week with third-degree murder and manslaughter before Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz asked Ellison to take over the prosecution.

Charges filed by the state and released Wednesday provide more details about the incident and Floyd’s final moments.

Lane and Kueng arrived at the scene first, following the counterfeit bill reports. Lane walked to the driver’s side of Floyd’s car, where Floyd sat, and Kueng remained on the passenger’s side. A woman was in the passenger seat and another man sat in the back seat, the state’s charges say.

Lane pulled out his gun and pointed it at Floyd through an open window and told Floyd to show his hands. Floyd put them on the steering wheel. Lane pulled Floyd out of his car and handcuffed him.

Following instructions from Lane, Floyd sat down. Floyd then calmly said, “Thank you, man.”

Kueng arrested Floyd on suspicion of passing counterfeit currency and tried to walk him into the police car. Floyd stiffened and fell to the ground, making clear he was not resisting but saying he didn’t want to get in the back seat because of his claustrophobia.

Chauvin and Thao soon arrived, and all four officers made “several attempts to get Floyd in the back seat of their squad car by pushing him.”

Chauvin pulled Floyd out of the squad car and Floyd went to the ground facedown, still handcuffed. Kueng held Floyd’s back while Lane held his hands. Chauvin’s knee pinned Floyd’s neck to the ground.

Floyd told them he could not breathe.

At one point, Lane told Chauvin, “I am worried about excited delirium or whatever.” But Lane made no move to reduce the force being used against Floyd, the complaint noted.

Nearly five minutes later, Kueng checked Floyd’s right hand for a pulse.

“I couldn’t find one,” Kueng said.

After eight minutes and 46 seconds, Chauvin removed his knee from Floyd’s neck. During the last two minutes and 56 seconds, Floyd was unresponsive.

The Hennepin County medical examiner’s autopsy concluded that Floyd died of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” The autopsy ruled his death a homicide and noted that the presence of fentanyl contributed to Floyd’s death.

On Wednesday, the county released a fuller autopsy report noting that Floyd had also tested positive for COVID-19 but was most probably asymptomatic at the time of his death.

A separate autopsy commissioned by Floyd’s family found he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression.

All four officers face potentially decades in prison: The second-degree murder charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, and charges of aiding and abetting carry the same maximum penalties as the underlying crime.

Ellison was frank about the case’s chances of success.

“Winning a conviction will be hard,” he said. “In fact, County Atty. [Michael] Freeman is the only prosecutor in the state of Minnesota that has successfully convicted a police officer for murder.”

Just before the charges were announced, Floyd’s son, Quincy Mason Floyd, visited the site where his father died, kneeling among the tributes. As Floyd’s family began arriving in the city for his memorial Thursday, they called for action against the other officers to be taken before the event.

“We want justice,” said Floyd’s son, 27, who lives in Texas, standing before a large painted angel now marking the spot. “No man or woman should be without their fathers.”

The family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, standing next to Quincy Floyd, said they expected the officers to be “charged as accomplices for the killing.”

The Minneapolis police chief said that they were “complicit” and that audio and video from body cameras showed “they are also accomplices by their failure to act, when they knew he didn’t have a pulse,” according to Crump.

“We expected all of the police officers to be arrested before we have the memorial here in Minneapolis, Minn., tomorrow,” he said. “Because we cannot have two justice systems in America: one for black America, and one for white America.”

On Tuesday, Walz announced that the state’s Department of Human Rights will investigate the Minneapolis Police Department and had filed a “civil rights charge related to the death of George Floyd.”

The Minneapolis Police Department declined to confirm or comment on the additional charges against the fired officers.