The judge also confirmed the prosecution of three of Chauvin’s colleagues, who also took part in the incident with Floyd, the AP agency wrote. The state leadership put the National Guard on alert for fears of possible unrest.
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Chauvin, who is white, knelt on the unarmed Floyd’s neck for almost eight minutes at the end of May, although the detainee complained that he could not breathe and was unconscious for the last minutes of the operation. Police detained the black man on suspicion of paying with a counterfeit bill. Doctors declared him dead shortly after arriving at the scene. His death triggered a massive wave of protests against racism and police violence that spread beyond the United States.
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Judge Peter Cahill said in a published decision that the prosecutor’s office had proved, with one exception, that the prosecution of four intervening police officers was justified. However, he did not agree with the milder of the two charges of murder at Chauvin, which he dropped. The jury will decide on the guilt of the defendants, the judge added. According to earlier information, the trial should start in March.
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The prosecutor’s office claims that Chauvin deliberately attacked Floyd and that the other police officers present helped him. “As long as Floyd was kept on the ground, the police remained in the same position: Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, (Alexander) Kueng and (Thomas) Lane remained on Floyd’s back and legs, and (Tou) Thao continued to prevent a group of concerned citizens from put themselves in the situation, “the indictment states.
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However, Chauvin’s lawyer claims that his client did not intend to kill or attack Floyd. The lawyers of the other three police officers state that their clients did not want to help Chauvin.
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The defense is also trying to prove that the drugs he had arrested in his blood, along with his health, played a role in Floyd’s death. A coroner in Hennepin County, Minnesota, told a prosecutor’s office that if he ignored any other possible causes of Floyd’s death, it would be “acceptable” to label the opioid overdose with fentanyl as the reason for his death. on the neck and back.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz announced shortly after the court’s decision that he had put the National Guard on alert as a precaution. He called the case a “positive step on the road to justice for George Floyd.” Minnesota Justice Secretary Keith Ellison spoke of the court’s decision today as the prosecutor’s victory.
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Chauvin was released from custody at the beginning of October after depositing a bail of one million dollars (23 million crowns). Judge Cahill subsequently allowed the former police officer to leave the country beyond bail, due to concerns about his safety.
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