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George Floyd’s family wants the charges filed against former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin upgraded from third-degree murder to first.
Benjamin Crump, attorney for the family, expressed that while that family is relieved that Chauvin was arrested for murdering their “gentle giant”, they want full accountability. Chauvin was arrested for Floyd’s murder Friday after days of protest in Minneapolis after the unarmed 46-year-old was killed Monday.
According to the charging document, Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds and kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 2 minutes 43 seconds after he lost consciousness and pleaded for help.
Floyd’s family believes that Chauvin’s actions merited a first-degree charge which is deemed as premediated. Third-degree is considered to be an accident.
READ MORE: Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin charged for murder of George Floyd
BREAKING: Derek Chauvin, the cop who knelt on #GeorgeFloyd and one of four cops on the scene, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. pic.twitter.com/fgwtiCFGZD
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) May 29, 2020
“The arrest of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the brutal killing of George Floyd is a welcome but overdue step on the road to justice,” the statement reads. “We expected a first-degree murder charge. We want a first-degree murder charge. And we want to see the other officers arrested. We call on authorities to revise the charges to reflect the true culpability of this officer.”
The statement further claimed that the protests were of the result of “the pain that the Black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of Black people in America is raw and is spilling out onto streets across America.”
Floyd’s family also wants the other officers—who looked on as Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck– to be charged as well.
The state wants to make sure that it has a solid case against the officers identified as Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng. They have all since been fired by the Minneapolis police department but the family also wants the nation “to fix the policies and training deficiencies that permitted this unlawful killing.”
READ MORE: Barack Obama breaks silence on the death of George Floyd: ‘We can and must be better’
Read the full statement below.
FAMILY STATEMENT: The family of #GeorgeFloyd and I released the following statement in response to the arrest of Derek Chauvin, the officer videoed kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. #JusticeForFloyd #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/BkSFRlYB6j
— Benjamin Crump, Esq. (@AttorneyCrump) May 29, 2020
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