I am happy about the results of this verdict, now they need to spend the remainder of their life in prison. What happened to George Floyd, was out-and-out murder. He didn't deserved to be treated like that. And to have died the way that he did, face down in the streets is an outrage to humanity. So yes, I want to make sure, they never see freedom again.

 

Federal jury convicts former cops involved in George Floyd's death

BILL HUTCHINSON, JANEL KLEIN and WHITNEY LLOYD

Thu, February 24, 2022, 4:24 PM·5 min read

A federal jury has convicted all three former Minneapolis police officers on all charges of violating George Floyd's civil rights by failing to intervene or provide medical aid as their senior officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on the back of the handcuffed Black man's neck for more than nine minutes.

The all-white U.S. District Court panel of eight women and four men announced its decision Thursday afternoon after roughly 13 hours of deliberations over two days.

Former Minneapolis police officers Thomas Lane, 38, J. Alexander Kueng, 28, and Tou Thao, 35, are all convicted of using the "color of the law," or their positions as police officers, to deprive Floyd of his civil rights by willfully being indifferent to his serious medical needs.

PHOTO: Former Minneapolis police officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng in a combination of booking photographs from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (via Reuters, FILE)

Thao and Kueng were also convicted of violating Floyd's right to be free of unreasonable seizure by willfully failing to intervene to prevent Chauvin from applying bodily injury to Floyd.

They face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"Today is a good day for us," Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, said following the announcement of the verdict, adding that the U.S. attorneys who prosecuted the case "did a hell of a job."

"This is just accountability," Philonise Floyd said. "It can never be justice because I can never get George back."

The Floyd family's attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms released a joint statement praising the jury's verdict and saying, "Today closes another important chapter in our journey for justice for George Floyd and his family."

"These officers tried to devise any excuse that could let them wash the blood from their hands, but following these verdicts, George's blood will forever stain them," the famlily's attorneys said.

MORE: Former officer testifies he tried to help George Floyd but was stopped

They added that the verdicts should serve as a "guiding example" of why law enforcement agencies nationwide should expand and prioritize instruction on an officer's duty to intervene when they witness a fellow officer using excessive force.