All four former Minneapolis officers involved in George Floyd’s death were charged in his murder on Wednesday, CNN reports.
Days after former officer Derek Chauvin was charged with Floyd’s murder, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that the other three officers would be charged with aiding and abetting the murder.
"I strongly believe that these developments are in the interest of justice for Mr. Floyd, his family, our community and our state," he said.
Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, who helped restrain Floyd, and Tou Thao, who stood by as Floyd died while Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes, were also charged with aiding and abetting manslaughter.
All three men are being held on $1 million bond. They face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the abetting murder charge and up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the manslaughter charge.
Chauvin charges upgraded:
Ellison also announced that the charge against Chauvin was upgraded from third-degree murder to second-degree murder. He is also charged with second-degree manslaughter. His bail was increased to $1 million on Wednesday.
"I did not allow public pressure to impact our decision-making process," Ellison said. "We made these decisions based on the facts that we gathered since this matter occurred and made these charges based on the law that we think applies."
Ellison took over the prosecution from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman over the weekend.
Family says an arrest is not a conviction:
"FAMILY REACTION: This is a bittersweet moment. We are deeply gratified that (Ellison) took decisive action, arresting & charging ALL the officers involved in #GeorgeFloyd's death & upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder," Floyd family attorney Benjamin Crump said on Twitter.
"We cannot celebrate because an arrest is not a conviction and we want justice," he later told reporters. "We want whole justice."
"The charges announced by Attorney General Keith Ellison today are a meaningful step toward justice for George Floyd. But we must also recognize that the anguish driving protests around the world is about more than one tragic incident," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. "George Floyd's death is the symptom of a disease. We will not wake up one day and have the disease of systemic racism cured for us. This is on each of us to solve together, and we have hard work ahead. We owe that much to George Floyd, and we owe that much to each other."
