The white Minneapolis policeman who pinned an unarmed black
man with a knee to the throat before the man died was arrested and charged with
murder, a prosecutor said on Friday, after three nights of violent protests
rocked the Midwestern city.
Derek Chauvin, the officer seen on a bystander's cellphone
video kneeling on George Floyd's neck on Monday before the 46-year-old man
died, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, Hennepin
County Attorney Mike Freeman told a news briefing.
"He is in custody and has been charged with
murder," Freeman said of Chauvin. "We have evidence, we have the
citizen's camera's video, the horrible, horrific, terrible thing we have all
seen over and over again, we have the officer's body-worn camera, we have
statements from some witnesses."
The cellphone footage showed Floyd repeatedly moaning and
gasping while he pleaded to Chauvin, kneeling on his neck, "Please, I
can't breathe." After several minutes, Floyd gradually grows quiet and
ceases to move.
Chauvin and three fellow officers at the scene were fired
on Tuesday from the Minneapolis Police Department. The city identified the
other officers as Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng.
Freeman said the investigation into Chauvin - who, if
convicted, faces up to 25 years in prison on the murder charge - was ongoing
and that he anticipated charges against the other officers. He said it was
appropriate to charge "the most dangerous perpetrator" first.
Earlier on Friday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called for
an end to the violent protests, which have included arson, looting and the
burning down of a police precinct, while promising a reckoning with the racial
inequities behind the unrest.
"None of us can live in a society where roving bands
go unchecked and do what they want to, ruin property," Walz said. "We
have to get back to that point of what caused this all to happen and start
working on that."
The protests, which threatened to stretch into a fourth
night, have been driven in part by a lack of arrests in the case.
Responding to a reporter's question about why the officers
were not arrested sooner, Freeman stressed that charges in similar cases would
typically take nine months to a year.
"This is by far the fastest we've ever charged a
police officer," said Freeman. "We entrust our police officers to use
a certain amounts of force to do their job, to protect us. They commit a
criminal act if they use that force unreasonably." Reuters
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