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On Monday afternoon, a former police officer named Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all three charges against him related to the death of George Floyd. On May 25th of last year, Floyd was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was suspected of trying to use counterfeit money.
After he was handcuffed, Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt with his knee on Floyd's back and neck. The 46-year-old black man repeatedly said he couldn't breathe and he eventually fell silent and quit moving. Floyd was then taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead an hour later.
In the weeks and months that followed, protests welled up across the United States with demonstrators accusing police of being biased against black Americans. Some of these protests turned violent. There was looting and damage to hundreds of buildings in Minnesota. During Chauvin's trial, several medical experts said that by kneeling on George Floyd, Chauvin restricted his ability to get oxygen and caused his death. Chauvin's defense said that Floyd died from heart disease and drugs in his system.
State officials had concerned there'd be more unrest if Chauvin was found not guilty but yesterday a jury did find the former officer guilty of second degree unintentional murder, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter. The former police officer is set to be sentenced eight weeks from now and can spend decades in prison.
