Veteran cop Derek Chauvin now faces 40 years in prison after his charge was upgraded to second-degree murder, while Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao have also been charged.
All three former Minneapolis officers have been charged with the same count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Charges allege that they did not intervene when their former colleague, 19-year police veteran Derek Chauvin who used his knee to pin down George Floyd’s neck before his death. All four were fired after Floyd’s death.
From left to right: J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and Derek Chauvin (Credit: Henn. Co. Jail)
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The 46-year-old dad was pinned by his neck to the street during an arrest, later dying in hospital on May 25, sparking nine days of protests.
New details about Derek Chauvin emerged after Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office on Wednesday upgraded charges against the former Minneapolis police officer who was the most experienced of the four officers involved in the arrest, with a record that included medals for bravery and 17 complaints against him, including one for pulling a woman out of her car during a speeding stop.
Files show he won two medals of valor [bravery] one in 2006 for being part of a group of officers who opened fire on a stabbing suspect who pointed a shotgun at them, and another in 2008 for a domestic violence incident in which Chauvin broke down a bathroom door and shot a suspect in the stomach.
Chauvin’s wife, Kellie, a Laotian immigrant who became the first Hmong winner of the Mrs. Minnesota pageant, filed for divorce shortly after his arrest last week.
Thursday’s hearings for other three fired Minneapolis police officers turned little contentious as the attorneys sought to humanize their clients and cast blames on senior colleague Derek.
All four former officers are being held on bail of $1 million each. Attorney generals who are prosecuting the case argued for high bail amounts and asked for between $50,000 and $250,000 in bail.
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