George Floyd Murder Trial (2021)

Minneapolis Police Department Officers (George Floyd Murder) Trials

by Ursa Cătălina-Arina
 George Floyd Murder
George Floyd Murder (Chauvin and Other MPD Officers) Trials: An Account
About 8:00 on the evening of May 25, 2020, Darnella Frazier’s 9-year-old cousin asked her if she would take her
to a Cup Foods store near their south Minneapolis apartment. Darella, 17, and her young cousin were a few storefronts
down from the grocery store when she saw four officers pull a black motorist roughly from his vehicle. Darnella pulled
out her iPhone and began recording. The video Frazier recorded would be replayed tens of thousands of times and
spark a movement across America that will forever change race relations in this county. Darnella remained largely
silent about her world-changing video for many month. Only when the trial of George Floyd opened ten months later
did she began to speak out on social media. She indicated that the video changed her too. She suggested on Facebook
that anyone who thought Derek Chauvin (the officer pictured below) was 'just doing his job," is "part of the problem."
She added, "I can't go to sleep in silence, my mind will eat me alive."
The video was shocking. It showed Officer Chauvin using his
knee to pin a handcuffed 46-year-old African American, George
Floyd, to the pavement for 7 minutes and 46 seconds (the total time
that knee pressure was applied, including time before the Frazier
video began, was later calculated to be 9 minutes and 29 seconds.)
When Chauvin began applying knee pressure to Floyd’s neck, officer
Thomas Lane put pressure on his legs. Officer Thao stood nearby, in
an apparent effort to separate bystanders from the unfolding scene. In
the video, Floyd said “I can’t breathe”—sixteen times. He said, “My
stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts.” He called out
“Please” and “Mama.” Floyd at one point said, “I’m about to die.”
Chauvin told him to “relax.” Concerned witnesses begged Chauvin to
take his knee off of Floyd’s neck. Chauvin was unmoved. Thao was
also unmoved, telling observers Floyd was “talking” and “he’s fine”
and—seizing the moment for a public service announcement—“This
is why you don’t do drugs.”
 About five minutes into the video, Floyd appeared to be unconscious. Chauvin pulled out mace to keep worried
bystanders from intervening. Thao moved directly between the bystanders and Chauvin. One observer demanded that
officers check Floyd’s pulse. Officer Lane was concerned enough to twice ask Chauvin whether they should move
Floyd to his side. Chauvin said no.
At 8:27 pm, with Chauvin’s knee still on Floyd’s neck, a Hennepin County ambulance, called to the scene by
officers, arrived. Finally, after nearly nine minutes of applying pressure, Chauvin released his knee. Paramedics
loaded the silent and unconscious Floyd onto a stretcher, carried him to an ambulance, and raced off for the Hennepin
County Medical Center. Darnella Frazier’s video ends at this point. It is, arguably, the most consequential
spontaneous video recording in history.
Aboard the ambulance, Floyd went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics requested that firefighters meet the
ambulance at the corner of 36 th Street and Park Avenue. Fire department medics found Floyd unresponsive and
without a pulse. At 9:25 pm, Floyd was pronounced dead at the Hennepin Medical Center emergency room.

Four Officers Fired, but All Hell Breaks Lose

On the morning after Floyd’s death, Frazier’s video was the most watched video on social media
and was replayed over and over on both broadcast and cable news programs. The almost universal
reaction to the video was shock. Not only did it seem to show a clear case of unjustified force, to many it
seemed to be irrefutable evidence of a cold-blooded murder of a defenseless black man by a white
officer.
 Charges Upgraded and Pre-Trial Developments

On May 26, the day after the killing, large protests erupted in Minneapolis and Mayor Jacob Frey
announced that the four officers involved in the case had been terminated. Mr. Frey said he had asked the
F.B.I. to investigate, and in a statement posted on social media, he said, “Being Black in America should not be
a death sentence.”
Mr. Chauvin was arrested on May 29 and initially charged with third-degree murder. Within days, he had
agreed to plead guilty, The New York Times reported in February, but William P. Barr, then the U.S. attorney
general, stepped in to reject the agreement, which had also included an assurance that Mr. Chauvin would not
face federal civil rights charges.
Judge Peter A. Cahill, who oversaw the trial, later dismissed the third-degree murder charger, but he
upheld a more severe charge of second-degree murder, as well as a second-degree manslaughter charge.

On June 3, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison upgraded the charge against Chauvin to second-
degree murder and charged the other three officers at the scene with aiding and abetting murder and
manslaughter. The decision came two days after, at the request of Governor Tim Walz, Ellison took over the
prosecution from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. The three former officers who were present but
failed to intervene were booked into the Hennepin County jail. The prosecution of the four officers was begun
quicker than any case in Minnesota history involving officers on the job who killed civilians. Speaking to the
press, Ellison said, “To the Floyd family, to our beloved community, and everyone that is watching, I say:
George Floyd mattered. He was loved. His life was important. His life had value. We will seek justice for him
and for you and we will find it.” In response to a question, Ellison dismissed the idea that intense public
pressure affected the process.
Protests Spread Beyond Minneapolis

But the George Floyd protests were really just beginning, spreading from city to city. By
early June, protests had been held in all fifty states. Many protesters echoed the words of George
Floyd, and chanted “I can’t breathe!” While most protests were non-violent, some turned ugly,
especially after sundown. Protesters burned police cars, charged police stations, smashed
windows, looted, and set fires, in cities from New York and Atlanta to Portland and San Jose.
Two hundred cities imposed curfews and over 60,000 National Guard personnel were activated.
Property losses climbed into the billions. Over twenty lives were lost, not counted some
additional number whose involvement in demonstrations might have caused them to contract
fatal cases of Covid.
 Derek Chauvin Is Sentenced To 22 1/2 Years For George
Floyd's Murder

A Minnesota judge sentenced Derek Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison Friday for the murder of
George Floyd — a punishment that exceeds the state's minimum guidelines but falls short of
prosecutors' request of a 30-year sentence.
As he issued the sentence, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said Chauvin will be credited for
the 199 days he has already served.
The sentence "is one of the longest a former police officer has ever received for an unlawful use of
deadly force," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said, calling it a "moment of real
accountability."
Cahill detailed his reasoning in a 22-page legal memorandum. In court, he spoke about pain —
something he said has marked this case. "I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain that
all the families are feeling, especially the Floyd family," Cahill said. "You have our sympathies, and I
acknowledge and hear the pain that you are feeling.""It has been painful throughout Hennepin
County, throughout the state of Minnesota and even the country. But most importantly, we need
to recognize the pain of the Floyd family."