Guilty for depriving George Floyd of his rights and for failing to help the black man handcuffed and nailed below the knee of a colleague. This is what the jury decided on the three former Minneapolis police officers: Tou Thao, 36, J. Alexander Kueng, 28 and Thomas Lane, 38. The verdict came to an end in a process that revolved around the duty or not of an officer to intervene against the misconduct of a colleague. It is a rare case in which police officers are held criminally responsible for the excessive violence of a colleague.
The prosecutor argued that the officers knew they had to help Floyd as he pleaded for his life before choking to death under the knee of former colleague of the defendants, Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s murder sparked protests in cities around the world against police brutality and racism. Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced for Floyd’s murder to 22 and a half years in prison.