4 former officers indicted on civil rights charges
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained facedown on the pavement and gasping for air.
A threecount indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Specifically, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer.
Thao and Kueng are also charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure, alleging they did not intervene to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd’s neck. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.
Floyd’s May 25 arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cell phone video, sparked nationwide complaints about the police treatment of Black people and protests calling for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.
Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the use of force and neck restraint of a 14yearold boy in 2017.
Lane, Thao and Kueng made their initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.
Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of mur
der and manslaughter in Floyd’s death and is in prison as he awaits sentencing. Experts say he will likely face no more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in June.
The three other former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Friday’s federal appearance.
Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin
pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd — state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held down Floyd’s legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9½minute restraint.
Conviction on a federal civil rights charge is punishable by up to life in prison or even the death penalty, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.