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Jury selected in US trial of officers involved in Floyd arrest

Published : Saturday, 22 January, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 445

SAINT PAUL, Jan 21: Former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin is serving 22 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American. Now the other three ex-police officers on the scene are going on trial for their actions that day -- or rather their failure to take action.
A jury -- 12 jurors and six alternates -- was selected Thursday in the federal trial of Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, accused of violating Floyd's civil rights. Chauvin was convicted of murder in a state trial and pleaded guilty last month to federal charges of using excessive force during Floyd's May 25, 2020 arrest for allegedly using a fake $20 to buy a pack of cigarettes.
Floyd's death, which was filmed by a bystander on a cellphone, set off months of protests in the United States against racial injustice and police brutality. Chauvin kept his knee on the handcuffed Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes, while Kueng was on his back and Lane held his legs.
Thao kept back bystanders who were pleading with Chauvin to get off the neck of a visibly distressed Floyd, who eventually passed out and died. Chauvin was an 18-year-old veteran of the Minneapolis police force; Thao had served for eight years while Kueng and Lane were new recruits, having joined the department in December 2019.
Thao, Kueng and Lane are to face Minnesota state charges in connection with Floyd's death in a trial which is now scheduled to begin on June 13 after repeated delays.  But in a sign of the importance of the case, federal prosecutors also charged the officers with violating Floyd's constitutional rights.    -AFP













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