murder of george floyd
According to international media reports, twelve jurors found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional manslaughter, third-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter after only 10 hours of deliberation.
In May 2020, Chauvin was seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight and a half minutes in a video, eventually leading to his death. He was arrested on 29 May 2020 and charged with murder.
The video went viral on social media, where Floyd can be seen pleading, “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd was handcuffed for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store. According to the complaint, he was accused of refusing to sit in the squad car and “deliberately falling down”, saying he was claustrophobic and struggling to breathe.
Chauvin was the first officer to be prosecuted among the other three – Tu Thao, Thomas Lane and Jay Alexander Kueng – who were charged with aiding and abetting the murder.
(With inputs from The Associated Press.)
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