The other Officers Charged With Aiding and Abetting Second-Degree Murder of George Floyd

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will charge the three other ex-police officers involved in George Floyd’s death and upgrade the charges against Derek Chauvin — the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck — to second-degree murder, the Star Tribune reports.

All four officers — Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — were fired the day after Floyd’s death, but up until today only Chauvin had been arrested and charged. The other three will now be charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
Protesters and activists have long been calling for Thao, Kueng and Lane to face criminal charges alongside Chauvin.

In the video of Floyd’s death, Kueng can be seen pinning Floyd; Thao can be seen watching Chauvin hold his knee to Floyd’s neck while Floyd repeatedly states he can’t breathe; and Lane can be heard expressing some concern and asking whether Floyd should be rolled over onto his side, which Chauvin rejects.

The charges against the three other officers come one day after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz asked Ellison to take over the case from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. They also follow the results of an independent autopsy, requested by lawyers for Floyd’s family, which found that Floyd died not only because Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck, but because the other officers helped hold Floyd down.

For instance, another officer’s knee, pressed against Floyd’s back, reportedly compressed his lungs and made it harder for him to breathe. Meanwhile, an official autopsy from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide and stated that he “experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s).”