Bystanders ‘didn’t intercede either’ in George Floyd’s death, cop’s attorney says
The attorney for a former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd said his client shouldn’t be held accountable for the actions of Derek Chauvin.
While making his argument to CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Earl Gray — the attorney for Thomas Lane — pointed at the bystanders from the incident with Floyd and Minneapolis police. Video shows Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while making an arrest.
“If the public is there and they’re so in uproar about this, they didn’t intercede either,” Gray told Cuomo.
Cuomo interrupted the attorney and asked him if “that’s asking a little too much of civilians and too little of your client?”
“Absolutely,” Gray replied. “I’m not, I just brought that up.”’
Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao are charged with aiding and abetting second degree murder - unintentional - while committing a felony, as well as aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter - culpable - negligence creating unreasonable risk. All are felony offenses.
National security attorney Bradley P. Moss said Gray’s remark about onlookers “was quite possibly the worst comment I’ve seen a lawyer make in defense of his client.”
Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old girl who recorded the incident, said she was being harassed online after posting the video to Facebook.
“I don’t expect anyone who wasn’t placed in my position to understand why and how I feel the way that I do,” she said. “MIND YOU I am a minor! 17 years old, of course I’m not about to fight off a cop.”
Several people were heard in the video repeatedly asking Chauvin to take his knee off Floyd’s neck. Others commented that Floyd looked like he was not breathing.
Lane had only been with the police department for four days and “he thought he was doing what was right,” Gray told Cuomo, according to CNN.
“He went into the ambulance, and he’s the one that was doing CPR,” Gray said. “He’s a man of compassion, he’s not a violent person.”
Gray added that the public’s perception would be different if they saw Lane’s body camera footage, which has not been released.
Rapper Drake posted on Instagram a picture of him watching the interview and said Gray was “struggling through an attempt to justify” Lane’s actions.
“Can’t even decide how to defend his client,” Drake wrote on his Instagram story. “This s--- is foul to watch.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Bystanders ‘didn’t intercede either’ in George Floyd’s death, cop’s attorney says."