Two ex-Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's death cast blame on more senior colleague

Attorneys for two former rookie Minneapolis police officers on Thursday rejected accusations that their clients aided and abetted the killing of George Floyd, casting blame instead on a senior officer who allegedly ignored his younger counterparts.

Early signs of a legal defense strategy began to emerge when former officers J Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao made their first court appearances in the Memorial Day killing of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in police custody.

Each officer is charged with one count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. The charges allege that they did not intervene when their former colleague and 19-year police veteran Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, all while Floyd pleaded with them and told them him he couldn't breathe. All four were fired after Floyd's death.

https://www.startribune.com/two-fired-mpls-officers-charged-in-floyd-s-death-cast-blame-on-derek-chauvin/571009922/