All four police officers involved in the tragic arrest and murder of Minneapolis man George Floyd are now facing charges, over a week after he was killed.
Derek Chauvin, the officer who was captured on film suffocating Floyd by pressing his knee into his neck for at least eight minutes, was previously charged with manslaughter but will now be charged with second-degree murder — indicating that investigators believe he knew the intent of his actions.
The elevation in charges against Chauvin come after the Minneapolis attorney general’s office overtook the invesitgation and two independent autopsies determined that Floyd died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure” when his neck and back were compressed during the brutal act.
The other three police officers present at the scene during the murder — Thomas Lane, J.A. Keung and Tou Thao — have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
While Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, Lane and Keung helped restrain him, and Thao stood by watching.
This marks the first time the other three police officers — who have now been taken into custody and will face the same potential maximum sentence as Chauvin — have had any charges against them.
Following the reports that all four police officers were to be charged, the Floyd family attorney Benjamin Crump released a statement on behalf of the family via Twitter.
“This is a bittersweet moment for the family of George Floyd,” it reads.
“We are deeply gratified that Attorney General Keith Ellison took decisive action in this case, arresting and charging all the officers involved in George Floyd’s death and upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder. #JusticeForGeorge.”
The charges come over a week after he was killed, following American and international protesting against police brutality.
Protests are continuing in Australia in support of the Black Lives Matter movement — for both George Floyd and Australia’s own First Nations people who have suffered at the hands of the police for decades — over the course of this week.
For more information how to get involved the protests, click here, and for a guide on how to protest safely during the pandemic, click here.
