Accountability
Three officers found guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights
The three police officers who were with Derek Chauvin when he publicly killed George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 were all found guilty in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights by failing to offer him medical assistance and failing to stop Chauvin’s fatal acts.
The three former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, were all found guilty of failing to render medical aid to Floyd during the incident, and Kueng and Tou were additionally charged with failing to intervene when Chauvin used excessive force while restraining Floyd by pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for about 9 minutes in front of onlookers. The incident sparked nationwide racial justice protests.
The men have not been sentenced yet, but each face a maximum punishment of life in prison. They will also appear in a state trial this summer on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter for their roles in the George Floyd incident.
Floyd’s family spoke out after the verdict was rendered at a press briefing. Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd said, “This is just accountability. It can never be justice because I can never get George back, and no matter how many times that I pray at night and I think about my brother 24/7, it still is going to be hard.”
Defense attorneys for the three officers argued their clients were poorly trained and inexperienced, and looked to Chauvin for leadership. Ben Crump, one of the prosecutors, said at the news briefing, “These officers tried to devise any excuse that could let them wash the blood from their hands, but following these verdicts George’s blood will forever stain them.”
He added, “Today’s guilty verdicts should serve as the guiding example of why police departments across America should expand and prioritize instruction on an officer’s duty to intervene and recognize when a fellow officer is using excessive force.”
Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.
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Once again police officers are being victimized by the anti-police mob. George Floyd committed suicide by taking known illegal drugs, and over-dosing, to avoid getting caught with them. Remember, he is a convicted violent criminal on parole/probation and the police can search him at any time – while alive. The evidence, which the Coroners down played in the trial of Derek Chauvin, was known lethal amount. When one looks at the real facts George Floyd was basically dead before the officers got him out of the vehicle. And remember, he was fighting them up until the point he died of the drugs he consumed.
[…] at the time – Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng – still await trial. But all three already have federal civil-rights convictions for failing to stop Chauvin or to provide medical assistance to […]