Jonathan Allen

ST. PAUL (Minn.) – A federal prosecutor stated to a jury Tuesday in closing arguments that former Minneapolis officers had broken their training and lacked basic human dignity by failing intervene when George Floyd was being held in a fatally arrest.

Tou Thao (36), J. Alexander Kueng (28) and Thomas Lane (38) have all pleaded guilty to the charges that they denied Floyd his right to medical assistance in police custody, even though they were in what a prosecutor described as “front row seats” for Floyd’s death in a Minneapolis intersection.

Thao and Kueng were also accused of willfully violating the 46-year old Black man’s rights. They did not intervene while Derek Chauvin (who is white) knelt down on Floyd’s neck. Incredulous onlookers requested that the officers check Floyd’s pulse.

Chauvin, 45 was sentenced for 22-1/2 years prison. He had been convicted last year in Floyd’s death at an additional state trial. In the U.S. District Court, St. Paul, the federal case hinged on whether an officer had a duty intervene in a colleague’s misconduct. This has shed light on a highly hierarchical police department culture.

Manda M. Seretich, assistant U.S. Attorney said Thao was caught on video “arguing and mocking” people asking him for help with Floyd. Kueng said that they could see Kueng laughing at Chauvin’s death and using a tire of a police vehicle to pick up gravel. Lane was heard worrying about Floyd, but didn’t get up to pin Floyd down.

She stated that the defendants failed to act in the “humane decency” and common-sense manner required by them: stop slow-motion murder taking place right in front.

In their own defense, all three defendants stated that they did not know Chauvin and rely on his many years of experience. Lane and Kueng, who held Floyd’s legs down and kept Thao on the sidewalk watching, have stressed their rookie status.

Sertich claimed that anyone could have asked Chauvin, even a rookie, to move Floyd and to examine his neck for pulse.

Sertich stated, “They want to you accept that it’s too much to expect of them to speak those things even though it wasn’t too much for regular people walking past,”

Men claimed they didn’t understand Floyd dying below Chauvin’s knees, and that they assumed the officer with his 18-year experience knew what he did.

Prosecutors repeatedly called attention to horrified pedestrians on the sidewalk. Most of them had never received medical training, but they correctly noticed that Floyd was unresponsive. They shouted at officers for Floyd to be checked. During the nearly three-week period of testimony, some witnesses appeared on the witness stand.

In body-worn video, Kueng is heard telling his colleagues twice that it was impossible to find a pulse. He stated to the jury that Floyd’s heart was not beating properly and that his handcuffs prevented him from checking it.

After the jury has begun deliberating, defendants’ attorneys will present their closing statements. If convicted, all three defendants face long sentences in prison. They will also be tried in Minnesota in June for state charges related to Floyd’s death.