The federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with failing to intervene to stop the murder of George Floyd or to provide him with lifesaving medical care began Monday.
The three men — Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng — can be seen in videos actively participating in the incident in which their former colleague Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes as he begged for his life.
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Chauvin, who killed Floyd on May 25, 2020, was convicted of second-degree murder in April 2021 and sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison.
According to The New York Times, Thao handled crowd control as Chauvin killed Floyd, while Lane and Kueng — both rookies — pressed down on Floyd's legs and back, respectively.
"They watched as Mr. Floyd suffered a slow and agonizing death," federal prosecutor Samantha Trepel said in her opening statement, adding that they "didn't lift a finger to help."
Per NPR, Lane and Kueng were the first on the scene after an employee at a Minneapolis corner store called 911 to report that Floyd had attempted to pay with counterfeit money. Floyd resisted arrest, and Chauvin and Thao arrived to provide backup.
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