The Law&Crime Network will provide live gavel to gavel coverage of the trial of Derek Chauvin, 44, the fired Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering local man George Floyd, 46. Our coverage with expert legal analysis begins this Monday, March 8, with jury selection. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday, March 29 regardless of when they settle on jurors. The trial is set for three weeks.
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Law&Crime Network host Brian Buckmire, who is a criminal defense lawyer unaffiliated with the case, reporter Angenette Levy, and producer Cathy Russon will be at the courthouse for coverage.
As seen in tragic video, four Minneapolis police officers–Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane–arrested Floyd over an allegation that he used a $20 counterfeit bill. While Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck, Thao stood between them and angry bystanders.
“You’re trapping his breathing right there, bro,” said one man. “You can get him off the ground.”
Officers dragged Floyd’s limp body onto a stretcher.
Prosecutors say the defendant kneeled on the Floyd’s neck for seven minutes and 46 seconds. (The original criminal complaints said eight minutes and 46 seconds.)
Derek Chavin
According to documents, Floyd was handcuffed when officers tried to make him get into a patrol vehicle. He stiffened, fell to the ground, and told cops–Kueng and Lane–he was not resisting, but did not want to get inside the vehicle. He was claustrophobic.
It was then that defendant Chauvin and Thao arrived. Officers tried to get Floyd into the vehicle, but the man said he could not breathe.
According to prosecutors, Chauvin pulled Floyd out of the squad car. Floyd went face down to the ground, still handcuffed while Kueng was on his back and Lane restrained his legs. From the amended complaint:
The defendant placed his left knee in the area of Mr. Floyd’s head and neck. Mr. Floyd said, “I can’t breathe”multiple times and repeatedly said, “Mama” and “please,” as well. At one point, Mr. Floyd said “I’m about to die.” The defendant and the other two officers stayed in their positions.
Lane asked if they should roll Floyd onto his side.
“No,” said Chauvin. “Staying put where we got him.”
“I am worried about excited delirium or whatever,” said Lane.
“That’s why we have him on his stomach,” said Chauvin.
The medical examiner determined that Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest suffered while officers restrained him. He had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, and there was fentanyl in his system, and evidence of recent methamphetamine use. From the complaint:
The ME opined that the effects of the officers’ restraint of Mr. Floyd, his underlying health conditions, and the presence of the drugs contributed to his death. The ME listed the cause of death as “[c]ardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” and concluded the manner of death was homicide.
Floyd’s death fueled the ongoing national debate over how law enforcement treats people of color, especially Black men. Chauvin, Thao, Kueng, Lane were promptly fired after video of the Floyd arrest was watched millions of times all over the world. The scale of the nationwide protests that followed is considered unprecedented.
Chauvin faces charges including second-degree murder. The other three former officers are set to be tried together for lesser charges in August.
[Mugshot via Minnesota Department of Corrections; screengrab via Facebook screengrab]
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