Jonathan Allen

(Reuters) – The federal trial of the three Minneapolis officers involved in George Floyd’s fatal arrest begins Thursday. It focuses on whether an officer had a duty of intervention in a colleague’s use of excessive force.

Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Keung, and Tou Thao were charged with violating Floyd’s civil rights in the May 2020 arrest at a Minneapolis grocery shop.

These men played a minor role in an eventful, chaotic scene that sparked some of the most violent anti-racism demonstrations in America. You can see them all in a cellphone video. It shows Derek Chauvin, their fellow Black man being handcuffed for nine minutes.

At the conclusion of an April 2021 nationally televised state court trial, Chauvin, 45 was found guilty of murdering Floyd and sentenced by a Minnesota judge to 22-1/2 Years in prison.

The selection of another jury begins Thursday at the U.S. District Court St. Paul. It will then be up to the judges to determine what the colleagues could have done to stop Chauvin from kneeling against Floyd. Floyd is suspected of having purchased cigarettes with counterfeit $20 bills.

U.S. officers are rarely prosecuted federally for the killing of someone on duty. However, prosecutions of officers who willfully violate someone’s rights for not stopping an officer using excessive violence by another officer is rare. Legal observers agree.

Now the question is, “Who else will be held responsible?” David Schultz from the University of Minnesota is a professor of law. “Am I my fellow officers’ keeper?” Do I have any duty to help Derek Chauvin if he does something wrong?

Mark Osler (a Minnesota University of St. Thomas law professor who was formerly a federal prosecutor) said that many police misconduct cases, including the Chauvin case, center on an officer’s actions.

He stated, “This case is about what was not done.” “This trial is very different.”

Federal prosecutors also accused Chauvin (who is white) of violating Floyd’s civil right. Last December, he changed his plea and pleaded guilty.

Thao, Keung, and Lane could all face years behind bars if they are convicted.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will try to convince the jury that Floyd was “willfully not to assist” them when he collapsed under Chauvin’s knee. The indictment says https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1392451/download that a person under arrest has a right to “be free from a police officer’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.”

Thao, Keung and another count are included in the indictment. It states that they “willfully failed” in their duty to stop Chauvin’s use of excessive force against Floyd. Floyd is entitled to an unreasonable seizure.

Lane helped Floyd restrain his lower body. He was not charged with the second charge because video footage shows him asking his coworkers if they would roll Floyd to his side. This position is more comfortable for his breathing. Thao, on the other hand, was adamant with his colleagues who asked him whether Floyd should be rolled on his side. This position allows for easier breathing.

Chauvin, in his plea deal with prosecutors, agreed to the prosecution’s assertion that Thao was Lane and did nothing to stop Chauvin from using force.

Many of the witnesses from Chauvin’s state trial who were onlookers are likely to be called at the federal trial. Both defense attorneys and the prosecutors are yet to publicly say if Chauvin will testify.

Thao worked eight years for the Minneapolis Police Department. Lane and Keung only joined a few months earlier and Chauvin was their field trainer officer. This is something their defense lawyers will likely emphasize.

Experts in legal matters believe that the prosecution could accelerate the challenges to “thinblue line” culture found within U.S. Police Departments, which discourages officers from speaking up against misconduct.

Candace McCoy is a professor of criminal justice at New York’s John Jay College. “It does seem to run contrary to the old-style culture law enforcement. But it isn’t new.” Over the past decade we have seen many police departments develop this idea, including large ones that train officers for a duty of intervention.