George Floyd’s survivors have been told that the other three fired Minneapolis officers involved with Floyd’s death will be charged, family attorney Benjamin Crump said Tuesday.
“They will be charged. That is what the family is hearing from authorities,” Crump said on NBC’s “Today.”
In addition to ex-officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, two additional officers restrained Floyd. A third stood by as Floyd said he could not breathe during the incident, footage of which has gone viral and spurred nationwide protests that have at times turned violent.
Both an independent autopsy and one released from the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide, though they differ in terms of cause of death.
The county said in a report released Monday that Floyd experienced cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement, while the independent autopsy said Floyd died of asphyxia due to compression of his neck and back.
“And now with the autopsy, the independent autopsy from the family that pays particular attention to the two knees at the back compressing his lungs, which is equally important as the neck compression cutting off the flow of air … they will be charged, we understand,” Crump said.
The attorney added he thinks it is “very likely” the charges against Chauvin will be upgraded. He has said before the family is seeking to upgrade the charges to first-degree murder.
“If this was you or I, nobody would question if this is first-degree murder,” Crump said. “But why is when a white police kills a black person in America we act like it’s such a difficult thing to charge them with what we would be charged with?”