MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The former Minneapolis Police officer charged with killing George Floyd and the three other officers accused of aiding and abetting in his death are expected to appear in court midday Monday.
Derek Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death on May 25, will appear remotely via video, known as ITV.
J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane, who are each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, will appear in person.
No cameras will be allowed in court Monday.
Chauvin’s bail was set at $1.25 million or $1 million under certain conditions, while bail for Kueng, Thao and Lane was set at $1 million each or $750,000 under certain conditions. Chauvin, 44, and Thao, 34, remain in custody, according to jail records, and Lane, 37, and Kueng, 26, have been released on conditional bond.
The hearing comes more than a month after Floyd was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis. Chauvin pinned Floyd to the ground and pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd pleaded “I can’t breathe.” Lane and Kueng helped restrain Floyd, while Thao stood nearby.
Autopsies by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office and by an independent autopsy commissioned by the family both concluded Floyd’s death was a homicide, although they differ on what caused it.
The police killing, captured on bystander video, sparked worldwide protests against racism and police brutality as part of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, and about two-thirds of Americans say they support the protests.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo fired all four officers and has called Floyd’s death “murder.”
“Mr. George Floyd’s tragic death was not due to a lack of training — the training was there. Chauvin knew what he was doing,” Arradondo said in a statement.
“The officers knew what was happening — one intentionally caused it and the others failed to prevent it. This was murder — it wasn’t a lack of training,” he said.
Chauvin had been a police officer with Minneapolis Police Department for nearly 19 years. Kueng was on his third shift as an officer, Lane had been on the police force for four days and Thao had been an MPD officer since 2012.
