Jury selection began Thursday for the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers who were on the scene when their colleague, Derek Chauvin, killed George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in 2020.
Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao are charged with depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights while acting under government authority and will head to trial on June 13. All three ex-officers pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in September.
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“This trial is really unique and important because it does present the question of the duty of officers on what they didn’t do, as opposed to reviewing actions themselves,” Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor, told NPR in an interview.
The ex-officers are charged with violating Floyd’s constitutional right to be “free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer” and willfully failing to aid Floyd when he was “in clear need of medical care,” the Justice Department said. Thao, 35, and Kueng, 27, are also specifically charged with failing to stop Chauvin’s “use of unreasonable force.”
The jury pool was selected broadly from the state of Minnesota, the Associated Press reported. The three former officers also face state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. That trial will take place on March 7.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020 on suspicion of using a counterfeit bill. Chauvin was quickly fired from the Minneapolis police force, like the other officers, and was convicted last year on murder and manslaughter charges. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.
Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty to a count of violating Floyd’s federal rights in December and will not face trial.
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A nine-minute video of Chauvin with his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck sparked national outrage and widespread protests. Some activists called on the government to “defund the police” or reduce police department budgets in response.
Last April, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department to see if it engaged in a “pattern or practice” of discrimination or excessive use of force.
