A Minnesota judge dropped the third-degree murder charge against Minneapolis ex-cop Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd, CNN reports.
Chauvin still faces the greater charge of second-degree murder and second degree manslaughter for killing Floyd after he kneeled on the neck for eight minutes. Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill also denied motions to dismiss the charges against the other three Minneapolis ex-cops—Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane– that were on the scene. Those officers were charged with aiding and abetting second–degree manslaughter.
All four officers involved in the death of George Floyd are now free, awaiting trial after posting bail.
In explaining his decision to drop the third-degree murder charge, Judge Cahill wrote, the charge can “be sustained only in situations in which the defendant’s actions were ’eminently dangerous to other persons’ and were not specifically directed at the particular person whose death occurred.” But the evidence presented by the state does not show how Chauvin’s actions were ’eminently dangerous’ to anyone but Floyd.”
Read more on CNN.
