ST PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Prosecutors in the trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights accused the men on Monday of standing by as fellow Officer Derek Chauvin “slowly killed George Floyd right in front of them”.
But one defence attorney countered during opening statements of the former officers’ trial that Chauvin called “all of the shots” as the senior officer at the scene and criticised the Minneapolis Police Department for doing too little to train officers to intervene when a colleague should be stopped.
Another officer’s attorney focussed on Floyd’s struggle with police before they restrained him. And an attorney for the third officer said his client raised concerns about the restraint of Floyd, but was rebuffed.
Former Officers J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pressed him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes while the 46-year-old Black man was facedown, handcuffed and gasping for air. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders from intervening.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter last year in state court in the videotaped killing that triggered worldwide protests and a reexamination of racism and policing.
Chauvin also pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
