Three more former Minnesota police officers will be charged in the killing of George Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man who died after an officer kneeled on his neck during an arrest. On Wednesday, the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison charged Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng with aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder. The Hennepin County prosecutor had already arrested Derek Chauvin, the former police officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck, last week, charging him with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Ellison’s office is also planning to announce that it would be upgrading the third-degree murder charge to second-degree murder.
Floyd was killed on May 25 after the officers arrested him for allegedly attempting to make a purchase at a store with a fraudulent $20 bill. As seen in video of Floyd’s arrest, Chauvin used his knee to hold Floyd down by the neck even as Floyd’s pleads, “Please, man, I can’t breathe.” Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd, who was apparently in handcuffs, even after he stopped speaking and moving. He remained there as onlookers shouted at other officers to attend to Floyd. In another video, three other officers can be seen crowding around Floyd, who is on the floor, during the arrest. Floyd was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital.
Floyd’s death has sparked days of protests and public outcry in Minneapolis and across the country.
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