Three former law enforcement officers involved in the May 25, 2020, death of George Perry Floyd Jr., were recently found guilty of federal civil rights violations.
Former Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng were convicted of depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights when he died due to unreasonable force from former MPD officer Derek Chauvin, according to a Feb. 24 U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota press release.
“Those who have sworn to enforce our nation’s laws must abide by them," Attorney General, Merrick Garland, said in the release. "Today’s verdict recognizes that two police officers violated the Constitution by failing to intervene to stop another officer from killing Mr. Floyd, and three officers violated the Constitution by failing to provide aid to Mr. Floyd in time to prevent his death."
Thao and Kueng have been found guilty of federal civil rights offenses arising out of Floyd's death; the pair deprived Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from a law enforcement officer's unreasonable force by willfully not intervening with Chauvin's lethal restraint, resulting in bodily injury to and the death of Floyd, the release stated.
Thao, Kueng and Lane were all found guilty of denying Floyd his constitutional rights by being deliberately indifferent to his state of medical emergency when he was in police custody "in clear need of medical care," according to the release.
Additionally, none of the officers, who were all CPR-certified, performed life-saving measures on Floyd after he stopped breathing and lost a pulse, the release stated.
Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to just over two decades in prison, according to the release. No sentencing date has been set for Thao, Kueng or Lane, who face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
