The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to ask a grand jury to indict four former Minneapolis police officers – including Derek Chauvin – on federal charges pursuant to their encounter with George Floyd last May, The Star-Tribune reports. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine and half minutes until Floyd died as the other three officers held him down and looked on. Last week in a Minneapolis courtroom, Chauvin was found guilty on three state counts, including second degree murder.

In the event of a mistrial or not guilty verdicts on all counts, sources said the plan was for federal agents to arrest Chauvin at the courthouse, in what would have made for an undoubtedly dramatic moment. Federal prosecutors are expected to seek police brutality charges against Chauvin in the Floyd case, as well as an incident from 2017 in which Chauvin hit a 14-year-old boy with a flashlight and choked him.

Of that incident, The Star-Tribune describes an ugly scene:

In a scene reminiscent of the Floyd arrest, Chauvin held the position even after the child told him that he was in pain and couldn’t breathe, and after the mother tried to intervene, prosecutors said. At one point, the boy started bleeding from his ear — from getting hit with the flashlight, he later told paramedics — and he asked to be flipped on his back. He then began crying and again asked to be flipped over, prompting Chauvin to ask if the boy would be “flopping around at all.”

“No,” the boy responded.

“Better not,” Chauvin said. He kept his knee on the child’s back.

If indicted by a grand jury, the other officers would face federal charges in relation to Floyd’s death only. They are J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao. The three men are already slated to be tried on state charges in early August.

The post DOJ to Indict Derek Chauvin, Was Going to Arrest Him at Courthouse if Found Not Guilty: Report first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/2R8gkD6