Three ex-Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating George Floyd's civil rights
NPRThree ex-Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating George Floyd's civil rights Enlarge this image toggle caption Hennepin County Sheriff's Office/AP Hennepin County Sheriff's Office/AP A federal jury found three former Minneapolis police officers guilty of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights when they helped with the restraint that led to his death. Sponsor Message "Today's verdict recognizes that two police officers violated the Constitution by failing to intervene to stop another officer from killing George Floyd, and three officers violated the Constitution by failing to provide aid to Mr. Floyd in time to prevent his death," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Instead, this federal civil rights trial — the second of what will likely be three total trials over Floyd's death — focused on the actions of the other three ex-officers, all of whom assisted in the deadly restraint: Lane held Floyd's legs down, Kueng knelt on Floyd's back, and Thao stopped bystanders from intervening. Prosecutors faced the challenge of convincing the jury that the three officers had "willfully" deprived Floyd of his civil rights, a legal standard that has often served as a high bar in civil rights prosecutions.