USA
George Floyd: Trial against police officers begins
Three police officers involved have to answer two years after the killing of George Floyd. Photo: Julio Cortez/AP/dpa/archive image
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They are accused of failing to provide assistance and violating constitutional rights: three police officers have to answer in court after the killing of George Floyd in the USA.
Almost two years after the killing of African American George Floyd in a police operation in the United States, a trial against three ex-police officers involved began on Monday.
They are charged with failure to provide assistance and violating Floyd’s constitutional rights in federal court in Saint Paul, Minnesota. If convicted, the former officers could face prison terms.
According to US media reports, prosecutor Samantha Trepel said in her opening speech that the officials had “repeatedly made a conscious decision” not to act. “They chose not to protect George Floyd, who they handcuffed,” Trepel said, according to the local newspaper “Star Tribune”. A defense attorney said the incident was a “tragedy, but a tragedy is not a crime.”
racism and police violence
The death of African American Floyd on May 25, 2020 in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis triggered demonstrations against racism and police violence in the United States. Videos document how police officers pushed the unarmed man to the ground. White officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes while Floyd begged him to breathe. Despite Chauvin’s actions, his colleagues Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane did not intervene or support him. According to the autopsy, Floyd lost consciousness and died.
In addition to failing to provide assistance and disregarding Floyd’s civil rights, the accused Kueng and Thao are also accused of not trying to stop Chauvin’s use of violence.
US activists hope the procedure will send a signal that police violence not only has consequences for the perpetrators, but also for those police officers who do not intervene to stop their colleagues.
In a separate trial under Minnesota law, Kueng, Thao and Thomas Lane are also facing charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. The trial was scheduled for August 2021, but was then postponed to 2022.
At the end of April last year, a jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, among other things, in another trial. A court in Minneapolis then sentenced him to 22 years and six months in prison. A few months later, Chauvin pleaded guilty to the federal lawsuit against him, which faces an additional prison term.