Jury begins deliberating case of three former officers in George Floyd killing

Jurors began deliberations in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights.

J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are charged with denying Floyd medical care as another former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed a knee into the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020. Thao and Kueng are additionally charged with failing to intervene during the killing.

All four police officers were fired by the Minneapolis Police Department after Floyd’s death, which sparked an outcry and a nationwide reckoning on racial justice.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison last year after being convicted by a jury of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights in December.

In closing arguments on Tuesday, prosecutors said the officers “chose to do nothing” as Floyd was killed, while the defense said the defendants were inexperienced and did not willfully violate Floyd’s rights, The Associated Press reported.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson gave the jury instructions before they began deliberations. He told the jury what they must consider for the counts against the officers, saying, for instance, that if they find Chauvin used unreasonable force and Thao and Kueng had a realistic opportunity to intervene and stop it, then the jurors must find the officers guilty of violating Floyd’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable force, according to the AP.

During the trial, Kueng and Thao testified they were acting under Chauvin’s authority. Lane said arresting Floyd “seemed reasonable at the time” and that Floyd “didn’t look good” and he had thought an ambulance would be there “any minute.” Lane and Kueng were both rookies at the time of Floyd’s killing.

Thao, who said he conducted crowd control during the arrest, additionally testified that he did not realize Floyd was dying when he was at the scene.