Closing arguments began on Tuesday in the federal case of three former Minneapolis police officers accused of violating George Floyd’s civil rights when they detained him outside of a convenience store. Assistant U.S. Attorney Manda Sertich, who gave the closing for the prosecution, began her arguments with Floyd’s last words before she launched into individual explanations of why each former officer should be found guilty.
"’The knee on my neck. I'm through. I can't breathe, officer,’” Sertich said in statements KARE 11 covered. “’Please help me. I can't breathe. They're going to kill me. I can't breathe.’
“One last time: 'Please, I really can't breathe.'"
Floyd had been accused of providing a counterfeit $20 bill when officers were called to the scene on May 25, 2020 outside of the Cup Foods store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The former officers have claimed that they were trying to detain Floyd safely in an incident that ended with former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the Black father’s neck for more than nine minutes.
J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, two of the former officers accused in the federal case, held Floyd down while former cop Tou Thao blocked bystanders from providing Floyd aid.
Thao ignored pleas from the crowd to help while standing a short distance away from Floyd for four minutes and 40 seconds, watching until he "gassed out," Sertich reportedly said.
"’This is why you don't do drugs, kids,’" Sertich said, allegedly repeating Thao’s words on the scene. "Instead of tapping Chauvin on the shoulder, he would argue and belittle people asking him to do what the law requires, not to mention common decency and sense."
Of Kueng, Sertich said he was shoulder to shoulder with Chauvin for four minutes and 40 seconds and still didn't bother to do as much as tap him on the shoulder or "ask him to move his knee off Floyd's neck."
She showed a still image from Thao's body camera footage that shows Kueng laughing with Chauvin, KARE 11 reporter Lou Raguse reported in a tweet. "Defendant Kueng then casually picked gravel out of the tire in front of him," Sertich said.
Of Lane, Sertich accused him of choosing not to stop a horror happening right under his nose as he pushed Floyd's legs down and crouched. "You know he affirmatively chose not to do anything because you know what was going on in his head at that moment," Sertich said, according to Raguse.
Robert Paule, Thao's attorney, started his closing with the assertion that although the loss of Floyd's life is a tragedy, "a tragedy is not a crime." He said in order to find his client guilty, a jury would have to determine that Thao acted willfully.
"A person acts willfully when [they] commit an act with a bad purpose or an improper motive to disobey or disregard the law, specifically intending to deprive the person of that right," Paule said in statements Raguse covered.
Paule again brought up the notion that officers believed Floyd was in a state of excited delirium. The National Institutes of Health wrote in its research of the condition that it is typically associated with drug use and puts the victim in danger of suffering cardiopulmonary arrest.
Paule attempted to point to signs to justify Thao's claim that Floyd was experiencing excited delirium, such as Floyd sweating, his alleged "superhuman strength," and probable drug use. "Think about that, three people are not able to control a person in handcuffs," the attorney said. He highlighted his client’s experience with suspects in a state of excited delirium, particularly suspects who appeared down and got up again.
"He's dealt with people who have risen up when experiencing excited delirium and gotten violent again," Paule reportedly said of Thao.
“I’ve never seen this much of a struggle," Thao testified earlier in the trial. He said it was "obvious" that Floyd was "under the influence of some kind of drugs" and that he appeared to be in a state of "excited delirium."
Paule zeroed in on elements from the testimony in his closing. He told the jury that because Thao didn’t see the other officers rolling Floyd over and starting CPR, it was logical for him to believe they had found a pulse, Raguse reported. Paule said if that was the case, then the force officers applied would not be unreasonable.
Tom Plunkett, Kueng’s attorney, also mentioned the crowd's possible impact on the officer’s response. He said that a paramedic testified the crowd was hostile and that the scene was not safe for giving medical care.
Plunkett pointed to four elements to cast reasonable doubt for jurors: Kueng's insufficient training; his lack of experience, only having been on the job a few days; his perceived inferiority to Chauvin as a superior; and his confidence in Chauvin as his field training officer. "Alex Kueng did not act 'willfully' in the crimes he's charged with," Plunkett said.
Earl Gray, Lane’s attorney, made the same claim in his closing, also relying on the argument that his client had only been on the job a few days when he was called to the scene. "You've heard nothing but innocent conduct by a rookie officer," Gray said. He added that it was common sense to defer to Chauvin.
“If you're a rookie four days on the job and you have a veteran next to you during a crisis? You look to him,” Gray said in closing statements Raguse covered. “That's common sense."
Lane said in testimony covered by NBC News that he did chest compressions on Floyd, offered to ride with paramedics to the hospital, and suggested officers roll Floyd on his side "to get a better assessment." Chauvin, who was the more senior officer on the scene, refused Lane’s suggestion, he testified.
"Any reasonable person should just be disgusted, infuriated,” Gray said. “The United States of America charges one of your fellow citizens when he offered to go in the ambulance when he saw [Floyd's] face and offered to help out."
The attorney called his client’s indictment “sort of scary” and repeated an earlier claim by attorney Plunkett that their clients were only indicted because of “mob rule and politics.”
Gray said his client earned a community service award voted on by his peers and that former Police Chief Medaria Arradondo shook Lane’s hand. "Five months later he terminated him without an investigation,” Gray said. “Talk about being ruled by the mob, politics. It's very dangerous now to be a cop.”
Because you would think from Gray’s closing that his client is the one who was killed, it bears reminding that George Floyd was murdered. He is the only person on that scene who lost his life. It is his family who will never get to see him again. He is the victim.
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