How Derek Chauvin Could Send His Fellow Cops to Prison
In the nearly two years since George Floyd was murdered outside a Minneapolis convenience store, only one of the four former police officers who presided over the devastating final minutes of the 46-year-old Black man’s life has been sent to prison.
But this week, the three ex-cops who were working alongside convicted murderer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, are set to go on federal trial in St. Paul over charges they violated Floyd’s civil rights in a grisly crime that fueled a national movement. Now, experts say, Chauvin—who became the face of police brutality in America after being filmed pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes—potentially testifying looms large as a wildcard in the case.
The disgraced inmate could take the stand and serve, intentionally or otherwise, to absolve his former co-workers, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane, and Tou Thao. But just as plausible, experts said, is that Chauvin emerges as a secret weapon for prosecutors in a case that is all about proving that you don’t have to kill someone to be a bad cop.