Ex-Minneapolis police officers indicted on federal civil rights charges in Floyd's death

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal grand jury in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has indicted Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers on charges of violating George Floyd's civil rights during the arrest that led to the black man's death last year, according to an indictment unsealed and released Friday by the Department of Justice.

Three of the former officers -- Chauvin, 45; Tou Thao, 35; and J. Alexander Kueng, 27 -- were each charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, according to the indictment. The fourth officer, Thomas Lane, 38, was charged one count of deprivation of rights under color of law.

Chauvin's actions violated Mr. Floyd's constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer and "resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, George Floyd," according to the indictment.

In video shot by a bystander and local traffic cameras, Thao was seen standing between onlookers and fellow officers as they pinned Floyd to the pavement on May 25, 2020. Lane and Kueng were also spotted on top of Floyd as Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for an extended period of time.

A 12-member Minneapolis jury last month convicted Chauvin of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter, after hearing evidence that he put his knee on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.

Chauvin's sentencing is set for June 25. He has filed for a retrial.

Experts say Chauvin will likely face no more than 30 years in prison. Any federal sentence would be served at the same time as a state sentence.

In a separate two-count indictment, Chauvin was also charged with violating the civil rights of a boy, then 14, on Sept. 4, 2017.

"Chauvin, without legal justification, held the teenager by the throat and struck the teenager multiple times in the head with a flashlight," according to the separate indictment.

Thao, Kueng and Lane will stand trial on Aug. 23.