Former Minneapolis police officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane were found guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by a federal jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday. The 12 jurors — four men and eight women — found Lane, Kueng, and Thao guilty of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd for more than 9 minutes on May 25, 2020 — ultimately killing him. The jurors also found Thao and Kueng guilty of an additional charge for failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. Lane, who did not face the extra charge, testified that he asked Chauvin twice to reposition Floyd while restraining him but was denied both times.
It is not out of the ordinary to hear cops telling motorists who may have committed the most insignificant traffic violation that they are in their town or on their highway. No town or highway is the property of any cop or police department, and even if they were, they would equally be the property of every lawful driver on the roads as well.
It is now up to department supervisors to reorient cops under their command, not just to refrain from the warrior training they are unleashing on the public but also to remember that if they do not stop their colleagues brutalizing charges in their care„, they will go to prison.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.