The officers – Derek Chauvin, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao – arrested Mr Floyd for an alleged fake $20 (17.5 euros; £16) bill.
Mr Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in custody on 25 May.
White officer Mr Chauvin was filmed pressing his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes before he died.Mr Kueng and Mr Lane, two trainee officers, were days into the job when the incident happened.
Personal details about the four officers have been released by authorities in Minneapolis. Here is what we know so far. The four officers were fired and are now facing charges in Floyd’s death.
Derek Chauvin, 44, pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck while Floyd was lying on the street.Chauvin was charged on Wednesday with a new, more serious count of second-degree murder. He had previously been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin was a police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department for nearly 19 years.He was the subject of at least 18 prior complaints and only two were “closed with discipline,” according to a department internal affairs public summary. Chauvin’s wife filed for divorce after Floyd’s killing.
J. Alexander Kueng, 26, helped restrain George Floyd along with Derek Chauvin and Thomas Lane.
Kueng was charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Kueng was hired as a police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department in December. He joined the department as a cadet in February 2019.He had no prior complaints. When Floyd’s death took place, it was Kueng’s third shift as a police officer, said Thomas Plunkett, his attorney. Chauvin was Kueng’s training officer, according to Plunkett.
Thomas Lane, 37, helped restrain George Floyd, along with Derek Chauvin and J. Alexander Kueng. Lane was charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He joined the police department as a cadet in February 2019. He didn’t have a history of complaints. Lane had been on the police force for four days when Floyd died, according to his attorney Earl Gray. Lane was “doing everything he thought he was supposed to do as a four-day police officer,” Gray said.
Tou Thao, 34, stood near the other officers as they restrained George Floyd. Thao was charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Thao had been a police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department since 2012.He had six complaints filed with internal affairs, one of which was still open, according to a Minneapolis Police Department internal affairs public summary. The other five were closed without discipline.
They ended up working together on Monday 25 May, after a 911 call came in from the Cup Foods Grocery store on Chicago Ave in Minneapolis when the staff suspected a customer had tried to purchase cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Lane and Kueng were first on the scene and arrested the suspect, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, who was unarmed. They handcuffed him and were attempting to put him in into their squad car when Chauvin and Thoa arrived.
What happened next was filmed by a bystander. The police officers held Floyd down, with Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, while he pleaded that he was unable to breath. Floyd eventually stopped speaking and went motionless. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Surjitt sahani
