Four former Minneapolis police officers were indicted on federal civil rights charges Friday in the death of George Floyd, ABC News reports.
Derek Chauvin and the three other officers on the scene when Floyd died -- Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane -- are accusing of depriving Floyd of his rights when they saw he was in “clear need” of medical attention but "willfully failed to aid Floyd, thereby acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of harm."
Chauvin, who was already convicted of murder in Minnesota, is charged with one count of depriving Floyd of his rights in his direct role in the man’s death.
"Chauvin held his left knee across George Floyd's neck, and his right knee on Floyd's back and arm, as George Floyd lay on the ground, handcuffed and unresisting, and kept his knees on Floyd's neck and body even after Floyd became unresponsive," the indictment said. "This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of George Floyd."
Other officers charged:
The grand jury indicted also alleges that Thao and Kueng were "aware that [Chauvin] was holding his knee across George Floyd's neck as Floyd lay handcuffed and unresisting, and that Defendant Chauvin continued to hold Floyd to the ground even after Floyd became unresponsive, and the defendants willfully failed to intervene to stop Defendant Chauvin's use of unreasonable force."
All four officers are also charged with not giving Floyd medical care. The indictment says they "willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes an arrestee’s right to be free from a police officer’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs."
Chauvin charged in 2017 incident:
Chauvin was separately indicted on federal charges of violating the civil rights of a 14-year-old in 2017.
"Chauvin, without legal justification, held" the teen "by the throat and struck Juvenile 1 multiple times in the head with a flashlight," the indictment said, adding that he then held "his knee on the neck and the upper back of Juvenile 1 even after Juvenile 1 was lying prone, handcuffed, and unresisting."
NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the federal charges "a step in the right direction."
"No police officer is above the law, nor should they ever be shielded from accountability,” he said. “We need urgent reforms now."
