Murder of George Floyd
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer.[14] Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk alleged that he made a purchase using a counterfeit $20 bill.[15] Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down in a street.[16][17][18] Two other police officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, assisted Chauvin in restraining Floyd. Lane had also pointed a gun at Floyd's head before Floyd was handcuffed.[19] A fourth police officer, Tou Thao, prevented bystanders from intervening.[20]
Murder of George Floyd
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
- Derek Michael Chauvin
- J. Alexander Kueng
- Thomas Kiernan Lane
- Tou Thao
- Federal charges:
- Chauvin: Pleaded guilty
- Lane, Kueng, Thao: Guilty on all counts
- State charges:
- Chauvin: Guilty on all counts
- Lane and Kueng: Pleaded guilty
- Thao: Guilty
- Federal convictions:
- Chauvin, Kueng, Lane, Thao:
- Deprivation of rights under color of law resulting in death
- Kueng, Thao:
- Willfully failing to intervene to stop use of unreasonable force[1]
- State convictions:
- Chauvin:
- Second-degree murder,
- third-degree murder, and
- second-degree manslaughter[2][3][4]
- Lane, Kueng, and Thao:
- Aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter[a][5][6][7]
- MN v. Chauvin 27-CR-20-12646
- MN v. Thao 27-CR-20-12949
Before being placed on the ground, Floyd had exhibited signs of anxiety, complaining about having claustrophobia, and being unable to breathe.[21][19] After being restrained, he became more distressed, still complaining of breathing difficulties, of the knee on his neck, and of fear of imminent death.[16] After several minutes, Floyd stopped speaking.[16] For the last few minutes, he lay motionless, and Kueng found no pulse when urged to check.[22][23] Despite this, Chauvin ignored bystanders' pleas to lift his knee from Floyd's neck.[24] The next day, after videos recorded by witnesses and security cameras became public, the Minneapolis Police Department fired all four officers.[25] Two autopsies, and one autopsy review, found Floyd's death to be a homicide.[26][27]
On March 12, 2021, Minneapolis agreed to pay US$27 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Floyd's family. On April 20, Chauvin was convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter,[4][28] and on June 25 he was sentenced to 22+1⁄2 years in prison.[29] All four officers faced federal civil rights charges.[30] In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights by using unreasonable force and ignoring his serious medical distress.[31][32] The other three officers were also later convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.[33] Lane pleaded guilty in May 2022 to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter[34] and was sentenced on September 21, 2022, to three years in prison to be served concurrently with his federal sentence of 2+1⁄2 years.[35] Kueng pleaded guilty on October 24, 2022, to the state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter and was sentenced to 3+1⁄2 years in prison, to be served concurrently with his federal sentence.[36][37] Thao waived his right to a jury trial on the state charge in lieu of a review of the evidence and a determination by a judge.[38] He was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in a written verdict delivered on May 2, 2023, and he was sentenced to 4+3⁄4 years in prison.[7][13]
Floyd's murder led to worldwide protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability.[39][40]
Investigations and criminal charges
Minneapolis police response
Early on May 26, the Minneapolis Police Department issued a statement that said nothing about Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck:[98][99][100] "After Floyd got out of his car, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress."[101] Hours later, witness and security camera video circulating on the internet showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck.[102] The department updated its statement,[103] saying "new information" had "been made available" and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was joining the investigation.[101] The four officers were briefly placed on paid administrative leave[25] before being fired later that day.[104]
Autopsies
Two autopsies—one by a local government official and one by doctors working for Floyd's family—determined that his death was a homicide. Released on June 1, 2020, they differed over whether there were contributing factors and whether the agreed cause, restraint and neck compression, was combined with subdual or asphyxiation.[105][106]
Andrew Baker, a pathologist and Hennepin County's chief medical examiner since 2004, performed an autopsy examination at 9:25 a.m. on May 26.[107][108] Prosecutors summarized portions of Baker's preliminary findings in charging documents that were released publicly on May 29.[109] Baker's final autopsy findings,[110][107] issued on June 1,[111] found that Floyd's heart stopped while he was being restrained and that his death was a homicide caused by "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression".[112]
Fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use may have increased the likelihood of death.[113][114] Other significant conditions were arteriosclerotic heart disease and hypertensive heart disease, including an enlarged heart, one artery 90% blocked, and two others 75% narrowed.[115][110][116] The report said that on April 3 Floyd had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but did not list it as a fatal or other significant condition.[117][118]
Attorneys for Floyd's family announced on May 29 that they would commission a second autopsy.[119] It was carried out on May 31 by Michael Baden, a pathologist and former New York City chief medical examiner, and Allecia Wilson, a pathologist and director of autopsy and forensic services at the University of Michigan Medical School.[120][121] They announced their results on June 1, a few hours before Baker's final findings were issued.[122] From the evidence available to them, which did not include a toxicology report or unspecified bodily samples, they found that Floyd's death was a homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression.[123][120][115] Also, Floyd had no underlying medical problem that contributed to his death.[124] They said that neck compression affected blood flow to the brain,[115] that ability to speak does not imply ability to breathe,[124] and that Floyd apparently died at the scene.[122]
It was revealed in August 2020 that the United States Department of Justice had the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's official autopsy results reviewed by the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, which agreed with them. The Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner added that the police "subdual and restraint had elements of positional and mechanical asphyxiation".[27][125][126][127]
FBI investigation
On May 26, the FBI announced it was reviewing the incident at the Minneapolis Police Department's request.[128][129] On May 28, the United States Department of Justice released a joint statement with the FBI, saying that their investigation into Floyd's murder was "a top priority" and outlining the investigation's next steps: a "comprehensive investigation will compile all available information and thoroughly evaluate evidence and information obtained from witnesses ... If it is determined that there has been a violation of federal law, criminal charges will be sought".[59][130][131]
Failed plea bargain
On May 28, state and federal prosecutors held a press conference at a regional FBI office in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb, in what was anticipated to be a major development in the case against the officers at the scene of Floyd's murder.[132] Hennepin County Attorney Michael O. Freeman, the local official with jurisdiction to bring criminal charges for police misconduct, said his office needed more time to investigate.[133] In explaining the anticipation of the media briefing and its two-hour delayed start, U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said, "I thought we would have another development to talk to you about, but we don't." On June 9, it was revealed that state and federal prosecutors had discussed a plea deal with Chauvin that would have included state murder charges and federal civil rights charges,[132] but the deal fell apart when United States Attorney General William Barr rejected it.[134] Chauvin believed his prospects of winning at trial could be poor, and was willing to plead guilty to third-degree murder for a ten-year prison sentence. As he would have gone to federal prison, the federal government was involved. Barr worried that protesters might view the agreement as too lenient and prefer a full investigation.[134]
Civil litigation and settlement
In July 2020, Floyd's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the City of Minneapolis and the four officers involved in the murder. The complaint said Floyd's Fourth Amendment rights were violated by "excessive use of unjustified, excessive, illegal, and deadly force". The lawsuit did not specify the amount of monetary damages the family sought.[157]
On March 12, 2021, the City of Minneapolis announced a settlement with Floyd's family for $27 million. The City Council approved it unanimously. Family lawyer Ben Crump called it the "largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in U.S. history". The settlement surpassed the previous record for Minneapolis of $20 million, paid in 2019 in the killing of Justine Damond. The city allocated $500,000 "for the benefit of the community around 38th and Chicago", the intersection where Floyd was murdered.[158]
Aftermath
Media
Darnella Frazier, who as a 17-year old filmed Floyd's restraint on her cell phone, received the 2020 PEN/Benenson Courage Award from PEN America.[263][264] The award was presented to her at an awards ceremony in December 2020 by film director Spike Lee.[263] PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said that Frazier's act sparked a "bold movement demanding an end to systemic anti-black racism and violence at the hands of police."[265][266] In June 2021, Frazier also received a special citation from the Pulitzer Prize committee in 2021 for her video.[267] The staff of the Star Tribune received the prize for Breaking News Reporting for their coverage of protests.[268]
Justice Department review
As a result of Floyd's murder, the United States Department of Justice conducted a federal review of the Minneapolis Police Department.[271] Its report, released in June 2023, found that the city's police had a pattern and practice of using deadly and other force excessively, of disproportionately searching and stopping black and Native American people, of violating the free-speech rights of protesters, and of discriminating against people with behavior health disabilities during emergency responses.[272] About the report, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that "the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible".[271] It was characterized as a call to change by several politicians, including President Joe Biden, U.S. Senator for Minnesota Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th district (which includes Minneapolis) Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.[273]
Along with its findings, the Department of Justice announced that Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department agreed "in principle" to negotiate a court-enforced consent decree with the DOJ,[271][274] the city's second consent decree regarding policing after it entered one with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.[275]