Ex-cop sentenced to over 20 years

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, who is white, pleaded guilty in December 2021 to violating the civil rights of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, during his May 2020 arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes. Chauvin is already serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence after being convicted of state murder charges for Floyd's death, which sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality across the United States. The state and federal sentences are to run concurrently. 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. Chauvin and three other police officers who were on the scene during Floyd's fatal arrest -- Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane -- were charged with violating his constitutional rights and failing to respond to his medical needs.