A US court on Thursday sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of killing George Floyd, to 21 years in prison on federal charges.
Chauvin, a 46-year-old white police officer, pleaded guilty in December 2021 to violating the civil rights of Floyd, an African-American citizen.
Chauvin is currently serving a 22-and-a-half-year prison sentence after being convicted of killing Floyd in May 2020, a process that sparked protests against racism and police brutality across the United States.
Federal and state regulations apply concurrently.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did,” St. Paul District Judge Paul Magnuson said during the sentencing. It should be severely punished.”
A video clip shared on social media shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for about 10 minutes until he passed out and was breathing.
During a brief intervention at the court hearing, Chauvin wished Floyd’s children “success in life” without apologizing or expressing the slightest remorse.
For his part, Philonis Floyd, the deceased’s brother, called for the “maximum punishment” for Chauvin, saying he “hasn’t closed his eyes since this tragedy.”
Source: Lebanon Debate
