A federal grand jury has indicted four former Minneapolis officers for violating the civil rights of George Floyd, the Black man who died last May during an arrest in that city.
The indictment nearly three weeks after one of those ex-cops, Derek Chauvin, was convicted at a state trial of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd.
Chauvin had held his knee on or near Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, despite Floyd being both prone and handcuffed at the time. Video of the killing sparked protests nationwide, and led to widespread calls for reform of police departments.
The Chicago Tribune last week reported that on the heels of that verdict federal prosecutors, who had spent months gathering evidence, were preparing to ask a grand jury in U.S. District Court to indict Chauvin and the other three cops involved in arresting Floyd.
The other former officers indicted Friday are J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Tao.
All three of those other men are set to be tried in August for state charges related to Floyd’s death.
Chauvin is due to be sentenced in June.
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