A white policeman has already been sentenced to 22 years in prison for asphyxiating African-American George Floyd. It is now the turn of three of his colleagues to be tried for their lack of action on the day of the murder.
Twelve jurors and six alternates were selected Thursday, January 20, the first stage of the federal trial of Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, accused of violating the “civil rights” of George Floyd, black forties suffocated to death on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, in the northern United States.
After a procedural hearing on Friday, the debates will enter the hard part of the case on Monday, January 24, before this panel of citizens who, according to the few journalists authorized in the courtroom, seem to number sixteen white people and two of Asian origin.
Federal justice accuses the three former police officers of not having brought help to George Floyd, while he was dying under the knee of their colleague, Derek Chauvin. The scene, filmed and posted online, sparked huge protests against racism and police brutality across the United States and beyond.
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The justice of Minnesota had quickly launched proceedings for murder against Derek Chauvin and for complicity in murder against his colleagues. The first was tried in this context in the spring and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. The trial of the other three before the local courts will begin on June 13.
At the same time, federal prosecutors in May indicted the four agents for “ violation of civil rights by George Floyd, including freedom and security. These double prosecutions are authorized in the United States, but relatively rare, and reflect the importance of this extraordinary file. In December, Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty in this federal part, admitting for the first time a share of responsibility in the drama.
The three men plead not guilty
His three colleagues therefore appeared without him Thursday in a federal court in Saint-Paul, the twin city of Minneapolis, where security was reinforced. The three men are accused of not having brought the necessary help to the forties, despite the signs of medical distress. All three men plead not guilty. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, both recently in the police force at the time of the tragedy, should insist during the trial on the ascendancy exercised by Derek Chauvin and his 19 years of experience in the security forces.
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(With AFP)