Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty of denying George Floyd his civil rights when they helped with the restraint that led to his untimely death, NPR reports.
According to the ruling, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao all deprived Floyd of his right to medical care, and two of them refused to intervene as Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck to apprehend him.
This federal civil rights trial, which is the second of three possible trials over Floyd's death, centered on the actions of the three ex-officers, all of whom played a part in the fatal restraint. Kueng knelt on Floyd's back, Lane held Floyd's legs down, and Thao stopped bystanders from getting involved.
"They chose not to intervene, they chose not to aid George Floyd as the window to save Mr. Floyd's life slammed shut," prosecutor Manda Sertich said in closing arguments on Tuesday. "This is a crime.”
Throughout the trial, the legal team for the ex-officers argued that their training was not adequate and that they followed the lead of Chauvin, who was the senior officer on the scene.
“I'm not trying to say he wasn't trained," said Thomas Plunkett, a defense lawyer representing Kueng. "I'm saying the training was inadequate to help him see, perceive and understand what was happening here."
Earl Gray, Lane’s attorney, was highly critical of the prosecutorial process and blamed "mob rule and politics" for the result of the trial.
Their lawyers repeatedly explained that Lane and Kueng were both first-year police officers.
The three ex-officers also face state charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. All three have pleaded not guilty and the trial is scheduled to commence on June 13.
For his role in Floyd’s death, Chauvin received a 22-year prison sentence, as EBONY previously reported.
Back in December, he pleaded guilty to two federal civil rights charges which he still has to be sentenced for.
