George Floyd Death - All Four Officers Charged, Autopsy Reveals He Tested Positive For COVID-19

Prosecutors have brought forward new criminal charges against four Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, an unarmed black man, according to Reuters. He was who was pinned by his neck to the street while being arrested and the video went viral, resulting in protests across USA.

Derek Chauvin was arrested initially for third-degree murder and manslaughter but is now charged with second-degree murder, as per court documents. This is a more serious charge.

The added charge, defined under Minnesota law as unintentionally causing another person¡¯s death in the commission of a felony offense, can carry a sentence of up to 40 years, 15 years longer than the maximum sentence for third-degree murder.

Chauvin, 44, was the white officer seen in widely circulated video footage kneeling on Floyd¡¯s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air and repeatedly groaned, ¡°Please, I can¡¯t breathe,¡± before growing motionless while bystanders shouted at police to let him up.

AFP

Floyd, whom police suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit bill to pay for cigarettes, was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the fatal encounter on May 25.

Three fellow officers dismissed from the Minneapolis police department along with Chauvin the following day were charged on Wednesday for the first time in the case - each with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and with aiding and abetting manslaughter.

Those three - Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao - have also been taken into custody. Aiding and abetting second-degree murder carries the same maximum punishment as the underlying offense - 40 years in prison.

Floyd¡¯s death has become the latest flashpoint for long-simmering rage over police brutality against African Americans, propelling the highly charged issue of racial justice to the top of the political agenda five months before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3.

Scenes of protesters of all races flooding the streets - mostly peaceful but sometimes accompanied by arson, looting and clashes with police - have fueled a sense of crisis but also hopes of change.

AFP

The mass public activity followed weeks of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, which forced millions of Americans out of work and disproportionately affected minorities.

Meanwhile in a latest development, Floyd's autopsy revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 3, but appeared asymptomatic, according to a report in AP. It also showed that his lungs lungs appeared healthy but there was some narrowing of the arteries in the heart.

The 20-page report released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office came with the family's permission and after the coroner's office released summary findings Monday that Floyd had a heart attack while being restrained by officers, and classified his May 25 death as a homicide.

The county's earlier summary report had listed fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use under "other significant conditions" but not under "cause of death." The full report's footnotes noted that signs of fentanyl toxicity can include "severe respiratory depression" and seizures.

AFP

Floyd family attorney, Ben Crump, earlier decried the official autopsy - as described in the original complaint against Chauvin - for ruling out asphyxia. An autopsy commissioned by the Floyd family concluded that he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression.