1 juror dismissed from federal trial in George Floyd killing
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The judge overseeing the federal trial of three former officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights dismissed a juror Wednesday because his son is ill.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson replaced the juror in the trial of J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao with an alternate.
Kueng, Lane and Thao are accused of depriving Floyd, 46, of his rights when they failed to give him medical aid as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the Black man’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed, facedown. Kueng and Thao are also accused of failing to intervene in the May 2020 killing, which triggered protests worldwide and a reexamination of racism and policing.
Magnuson told the jury that a juror was excused because his son has a serious health condition.
Testimony began Jan. 24, after a jury was quickly selected days earlier. Twelve jurors will deliberate. Magnuson, concerned about COVID-19, ordered the selection of six alternates instead of the usual two in case any jurors became ill and had to drop out.
Prosecutors on Wednesday called Dr. Vik Bebarta, an emergency physician and toxicologist and professor at the University of Colorado in Denver, to testify. Bebarta said he determined that Floyd “died from a lack of oxygen to his brain” and that he had suffocated.
A lung specialist testified Monday that Floyd could have been saved if officers had moved him into a position to breathe more easily. Also, the medical examiner who rule Floyd’s death a homicide testified last week that Floyd died after police “subdual, restraint and neck compression” caused his heart and lungs to stop.
Previous testimony has established that Chauvin — the most senior officer on the scene with 19 years of experience — told his fellow officers after Floyd became unresponsive and they couldn’t find a pulse to wait for an ambulance that was on its way. Officers kept restraining Floyd until the ambulance got there, according to testimony and video footage.
Officer Nicole Mackenzie, the department’s medical support coordinator, testified this week that Kueng and Lane were in a police academy “emergency medical responder” class that she taught, which covered first aid, ethics in care and how to hand people off to paramedics. She also discussed refresher training that Thao would have received.
She said it’s been the standard “as long as I’ve been around” that officers are supposed to call for an ambulance and begin CPR right away if they can’t find a pulse. She said they’re told not to wait even if an ambulance is already on the way.
Defense attorneys contend the officers received inadequate training and have challenged statements by officials that Minneapolis officers are not trained to use their knees to pin people down the way Chauvin did.
Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, also has suggested that the officers were concerned that Floyd was in an agitated state known as excited delirium, though experts have testified he did not appear to be suffering from the disputed condition.
Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, has highlighted Lane’s attempts to persuade Chauvin to roll Floyd on his side only to be rebuffed; how it was Lane who first called for an ambulance, then told Thao to upgrade the call to lights-and-sirens as Floyd deteriorated; how Lane asked Kueng if he could find a pulse; and how Lane performed chest compressions on Floyd in the ambulance.
Kueng, who is Black, Lane, who is white, and Thao, who is Hmong American, are charged with willfully depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights while acting under government authority. The charges allege that the officers’ actions resulted in Floyd’s death.
Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in state court last year and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years. He pleaded guilty in December to a federal civil rights charge.
Lane, Kueng and Thao also face a separate state trial in June on charges alleging that they aided and abetted murder and manslaughter.