BSS/AFP :
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of the murder of George Floyd, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison on Thursday on federal charges.
Chauvin, 46, who is white, pleaded guilty in December 2021 to violating the civil rights of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man.
Chauvin is already serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence after being convicted of state murder charges for Floyd’s death in May 2020, which sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality across the United States.
The state and federal sentences are to be served concurrently. “I really don’t know why you did what you did,” US District Court Judge Paul Magnuson said in delivering the sentence. “But to put your knee on another person’s neck until they’re deceased is wrong,” he said. “You must be substantially punished.”
Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, was captured in a video that went viral kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes, until he passed out and died.
