Derek Chauvin sentenced to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd's civil rights

(Image credit: Minnesota Department of Corrections via Getty Images)

published 7 July 2022

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced on Thursday to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd's civil rights.

In May 2020, Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes while detaining him outside of a Minneapolis market. Floyd, an unarmed Black man, said he couldn't breathe, and then became unresponsive. In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty during a state trial of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison. His federal sentence will be served concurrently.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson on Thursday told Chauvin what he did to Floyd was "simply wrong" and "offensive," and his actions "absolutely destroyed the lives" of three other officers who were at the scene with him. Those officers — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung, and Thomas Lane — were convicted in February on federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights, and are awaiting sentencing.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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