It has become plain that the decision to hand the investigation into the murder of George Floyd over to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was a pivotal moment that increased the gravity of the case by an order of magnitude. The original decision to charge only Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck until Floyd died, and then only with a lesser offense, combined with a hand-wave of an official autopsy, stunk of business-as-usual—which, it should be obvious by now, would have been inadequate to events. From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Attorney General Keith Ellison plans to elevate charges against the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck while adding charges of aiding and abetting murder against the other three officers at the scene, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the case. Ellison is expected to provide an update this afternoon on the state’s investigation into Floyd’s death. According to sources, former officer Derek Chauvin, recorded on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he begged for air on May 25, will now be charged with second-degree murder.
The other three officers at the scene — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — will also be charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, according to the sources, who spoke on conditions of anonymity. Chauvin was arrested last Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Thao was recorded watching as Chauvin continued to press on Floyd’s neck with his knee. Kueng was one of the first officers on the scene and helped pin Floyd down. Lane was detailed in earlier charges as pointing a gun at Floyd before handcuffing, and later asked whether officers should roll Floyd on his side as he was restrained. The charges come just days after Gov. Tim Walz asked Ellison to take over the prosecution, which until Sunday had been led by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
Doubtless there will be pushback from some quarters, probably on the grounds that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz only designated Ellison to placate the angry crowds in the streets. But for those people, the times will never change, and what happened in Minneapolis was an unfortunate accident. Bad apples, and all that. It’s also a necessary assertion of the power of local government independent of the federal government, the latter of which seems at the moment to be servant to one pathetic man’s ego.
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Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
