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Criminal Justice

4 officers face civil rights charges in George Floyd’s death; Chauvin also charged in youth’s knee restraint

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 7, 2021, 10:34 am CDT

A federal grand jury has indicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and three other former officers on civil rights charges in the May 2020 death of George Floyd.

The May 6 indictment unsealed Friday charges Chauvin, as well as former officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, report the Associated Press and the Washington Post.

Chauvin was previously convicted on state charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for killing George Floyd with a knee to his neck.

In the federal indictment, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including the right to be free from unreasonable force by a police officer.

Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure for failing to intervene, even after Floyd became unresponsive.

All four officers are charged with deprivation of liberty without due process, which includes deliberate indifference to Floyd’s medical needs.

Kueng and Lane joined the Minneapolis Police Department in December 2019. Thao had been an officer for more than eight years and Chauvin for more than 18 years.

Chauvin is also charged in a separate indictment accusing him of violating the rights of a 14-year-old youth during a September 2017 arrest.

Chauvin is accused of holding the youth by the throat, hitting him in the head with a flashlight, and holding his knee on the youth’s upper back and neck.

Kueng, Lane and Thao are also awaiting trial on state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.