CNN reports that Derek Chauvin, the officer that directly knelt on the neck of the slain George Floyd, after being dismissed from the force, has now been arrested and charged with third degree murder (manslaughter).
However, the family says that this is hardly enough, as the three other officers identified as, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, are yet to be arrested by the Minneapolis Police Department.
Worthy of note is the fact that this is the fastest prosecution of a white police officer in the history of the United States of America. This comes three days after residents of Minneapolis had taken to the streets in protests that later turned violent, resulting in the police precinct being set on fire.
This charge comes even as the autopsy report says that Floyd’s death wasn’t as a direct result of asphyxiation, but that underlying health conditions, coupled with the trauma of the arrest circumstances may have contributed to his death.
Meanwhile a new amateur video has surfaced, showing that two other officers had helped hold Floyd to the ground as life gradually seeped out of him.
In an interview following the report, former Vice President Joe Biden said that it is essential that all perpetrators of the act be brought to book. Speaking further, he said that President’s Trump’s handling of the matter has been thoroughly irresponsible.
Some persons have argued that this is more a case of abuse of power than a case of racism, and as such, all cases of abuse of power must be swiftly dealt with, irrespective of whether or not the offenders are African American or not.
Meanwhile a curfew has been imposed in Minneapolis Minnesota, for a whole week, as means of putting the unrest under control.
See our earlier report on this story, “I CAN’T BREATHE”
