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MINNEAPOLIS – Former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for fixing George Floyd to the ground with his knee on the black man’s neck in a case that sparked global protests, violence and a furious re-examination racism and policing in the US.
Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades.
The euphoric people of the verdict flooded the streets around the center upon hearing the news. Cars blew their horns and people ran through the traffic, waving banners.
Members of the Floyd family gathered in a Minneapolis conference room could be heard clapping from the next room as each verdict was read.
The jury of six white people and six black or multiracial people returned with their verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations for two days. Chauvin was found guilty of all charges: second-degree manslaughter, third-degree murder, and second-degree murder.
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His face was darkened by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction was seen beyond his eyes as he threw himself around the courtroom.
His bail was immediately revoked and he was driven with his hands handcuffed to his back. The sentence will be in two months.
As the judge asked the jurors if they were coming to a verdict, a silence fell on the crowd of 300 people in a park adjacent to the court, with people listening to the paperwork on their cell phones. When the final verdict of guilt was announced, the crowd roared, many people hugged and some shed tears.
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At the intersection where Floyd was fixed, a crowd sang, “One down, three to go!” – a reference to the other three fired Minneapolis police officers who are on trial in August accused of aiding and abetting the murder of Floyd’s death.
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Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she was grateful and relieved.
“I feel grounded. I can feel my feet on the concrete, ”he said, adding that he looked forward to the“ next case with joy, optimism and strength ”.
An ecstatic Whitney Lewis leaned in the middle of the car window in a growing jam of partygoers waving a Black Lives Matter flag. “Justice was done,” the 32-year-old from Minneapolis said. “It means George Floyd can rest now.”
The verdict was read in a court tried with concrete and barbed wire barriers and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on the brink of another round of riots, not only for the Chauvin case, but for the deadly shooting. policeman of a young black man. man, Daunte Wright, in a Minneapolis suburb, April 11th.
The identities of the jurors were kept secret and will not be published until the judge decides it is safe to do so.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a $ 20 fake bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, declared he was claustrophobic and fought with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They put him on the ground.
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The centerpiece of the case was the grueling video of Floyd’s spectator repeatedly panting, “I can’t breathe” and the spectators shouting at Chauvin to stop while the officer pressed his knee over Floyd’s neck or closed it. in Floyd’s neck so authorities say it was 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd was quietly silent.
Prosecutors interpreted the images at the first opportunity, during the first statements, and Jerry Blackwell told the jury, “Cross your eyes.” And he showed up again and again, analyzing one frame at a time by the testimonies of both parties.
Following Floyd’s death, demonstrations and scattered violence erupted in Minneapolis, across the country and beyond. The fury also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima.
In the following months, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by the police, renewed disciplinary systems, or subjected police departments to closer supervision.
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The “Blue Wall of Silence” that often protects police accused of illegal acts collapsed after Floyd’s death: the Minneapolis police chief quickly called him a “murderer” and fired the four officers. and the city reached a staggering $ 27 million deal with Floyd’s family as a jury selection. was underway.
Experts in police procedures and law enforcement veterans inside and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified for prosecutors that Chauvin used excessive force and went against his training.
Prosecution medical experts said Floyd died of asphyxiation or lack of oxygen, because breathing was restricted by holding him in his stomach, with his hands clenched behind his back, from one knee to the other. neck and face stranded on the ground. .
Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, called in an expert on police force uses and a forensic pathologist to help give the case that Chauvin acted reasonably against a troubled suspect and that Floyd died of ‘an underlying heart disease and for its illegal drug use.
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Floyd had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart, and narrow arteries, and fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in his system.
Under the law, police have some leeway to use force and are tried on whether their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
The defense also tried to argue that Chauvin and the other officers were hindered in their duties by what they perceived as a hostile and growing crowd.
Chauvin did not testify, and everything the jury or audience ever heard through an explanation of his came from a video from the police corps camera after an ambulance had taken the 223-pound Floyd . Chauvin told a viewer, “We have to control this guy because he’s a sizable guy … and he looks like he probably has something.”
The prosecution’s case also included tearful testimonies from onlookers who said police held them back when they protested what was happening. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier, who recorded the crucial video, said Chauvin has just given viewers a “cold” and “discouraged” look.
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She and others said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt at witnessing Floyd’s slow-motion death.
“It’s been nights since I woke up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more, and not interacting physically and not saving his life,” Frazier said, while neighborhood market cashier Christopher Martin , 19, lamented that “this could have been avoided” if he had only turned down the suspicious $ 20 bill.
To make Floyd more than a criminal statistic in the eyes of the jury, prosecutors called his girlfriend to the rostrum, who told the story of how they met and how they fought opioid addiction, and his brother little Philonise. He recalled how Floyd helped teach him how to grab a soccer ball and made “the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches.”
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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and writers Mohamed Ibrahim and Aaron Morris in Minneapolis contributed.
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Find full AP coverage of George Floyd’s death at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
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