Convicted of murdering George Floyd in a state trial, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pleaded not guilty Thursday in a federal case accusing him of beating a black teenager with a flashlight before kneeling on his neck.
On September 4, 2017, Chauvin allegedly grabbed a 14-year-old boy by the throat while repeatedly striking him in the head with a flashlight. According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen had resisted arrest.
After the teenager was lying prone, handcuffed, and unresisting, Chauvin allegedly knelt on his neck and upper back, which resulted in bodily injury to the teen. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.
In April 2021, Chauvin was convicted in a state trial on one count of second degree manslaughter, one count of second degree murder, and one count of third degree murder for killing George Floyd. In June, Judge Peter Cahill sentenced him to 270 months in prison.
In May 2021, a federal grand jury returned two separate indictments against Chauvin for depriving George Floyd of his constitutional rights on May 25, 2020, and depriving the teen of his constitutional rights on September 4, 2017. In the second indictment, Chauvin was charged with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for incessantly striking the teen’s head with a flashlight and another count of deprivation of rights for kneeling on the handcuffed teen’s neck and upper back.
On Thursday, Chauvin was arraigned via video conference before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer on two counts of federal civil rights violations. He pleaded not guilty.
Chauvin is currently serving 22½ years in state prison for killing George Floyd.
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