A federal grand jury has indicted Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers on charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that led to his death last year, according to the indictment unsealed Friday, reports NBC News.
Three of the former officers — Chauvin, 45; Tou Thao, 35; and J. Alexander Kueng, 27 — were each charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, according to the indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice. The fourth, Thomas Lane, 38, was charged one count of deprivation of rights under the color of law.
In a video shot by a bystander and local traffic camera, Thao was seen standing between onlookers and his fellow officers as they pinned Floyd to the pavement. Lane and Kueng were also spotted on top of Floyd as Chauvin applied deadly pressure to the victim’s neck.
Chauvin “willfully deprived George Floyd of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from an unreasonable force by a police officer,” according to the indictment.
Floyd’s brother, Rodney Floyd, said at a news conference Saturday that news of the indictment “put a smile on our faces.” He praised the attorney general, who called the family, for holding “these guys to their accountability.”
