Witness testimony will get underway in earnest Tuesday at the federal civil rights trial of three former Minneapolis police officers accused of failing to intervene as fellow Officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by pressing his knee into the Black man's neck as he lay facedown, handcuffed and gasping for air.
Former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority. Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders from intervening.
