Former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of murder in the death of African American George Floyd on May 25, 2020.The death of George Floyd had triggered one of the most significant anti-racism movements in the United States and prompted mass protests worldwide with the underlying theme 'Black Lives Matter'.A 12-member jury convicted Derek Chauvin on Tuesday of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. He is staring at up to 40 years in prison.
Chauvin will be sentenced in the coming weeks.The jury considered testimonies from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts.Autopsy results revealed that Chauvin killed Floyd by pressing his body into the street in a way that starved him of oxygen.
Darnella Frazier, the teenager who had used her cellphone to make a video of the act of police brutality, testified that Floyd could be heard on the video crying out for his mother and telling the officers that he was unable to breathe.She detailed how Chauvin pushed his knee into the 46-year-old's neck for over nine minutes as he and three fellow officers arrested him over allegedly using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store.
'Jury in Minneapolis did the right thing'Reacting to the verdict, former US President Barack Obama said that true justice requires that we accept the fact that "Black Americans are treated differently every day".It needs us to recognise that millions of citizens live in fear that their subsequent encounter with the police could be their last. And it requires us to do the thankless work of making America we know more like the America we believe in, Obama said.While today's verdict might have been a necessary step, it is far from sufficient. We cannot rest. We will have to follow through with concrete reforms that will ultimately eliminate racial bias in the criminal justice system, Obama added.
'A Step Forward'US President Joe Biden hailed the verdict as a step forward.Taking to Twitter, Biden said that while nothing can bring George Floyd back, this (verdict) can be a giant step towards justice in America.He further said that such a verdict is much too rare.
Biden said, "For so many people, it took an extraordinary convergence of factors: a brave young woman with a smartphone camera; a crowd that was traumatised - traumatised witnesses; a murder that lasts almost 10 minutes in broad daylight for, ultimately, the whole world to see; officers standing up and testifying against a fellow officer instead of just closing ranks, which should be commended; a jury who heard the evidence, carried out their civic duty in the midst of an extraordinary moment, under extraordinary pressure."To deliver real change and reform, we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this, he said, adding that the country has to ensure that Black and brown people or anyone do not fear interactions with law enforcement.
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