Minneapolis police officer charged with murder of unarmed black man George Floyd

"Violence is not the answer to everything. Sometimes we need to take a step back," says Bridgett Floyd as the trial against the police officer accused of killing her brother, George Floyd, begins.

The US city of Minneapolis will pay several million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by George Floyd's family. The police officer charged in connection with Floyd's death is currently facing trial.

A jury will hear the opening arguments Monday in the trial of a former police officer facing a number of charges into the death of Black man George Floyd.

Protesters have gathered outside a Minneapolis courthouse as the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin begins. The defendant is accused of murdering unarmed Black man George Floyd.

A high school friend of George Floyd says the policemen who were at the scene when Derek Chauvin had his knee on the neck of the 46-year-old Black man are "as guilty" as the former Minneapolis police officer, who is currently being tried for murder. "They’re trying to show a different character so that it fits to whatever plea they’re trying to get," Redick Edwards IV says about Chauvin's ongoing trial. Redick Edwards IV met George Floyd in the early 90’s on a basketball court in Third Ward, a poor and predominantly African American neighborhood in central Houston, Texas.

The opening week of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, facing murder and manslaughter charges for the death of George Floyd, has featured dramatic and emotional testimony. Among those taking the stand in the heavily-guarded downtown Minneapolis courtroom have been Floyd's girlfriend, witnesses to his May 25, 2020 arrest and fellow police officers.

Medical experts' testimony dismissed the defendant's claims that George Floyd died from previous drug use. The police officer who kneeled on Floyd's was charged with murder and manslaughter.

Lawyers for Derek Chauvin have opened their case, arguing that the former police officer acted reasonably and in line with law enforcement policy in the way he restrained the late George Floyd.

Lawyers gave their final arguments as jurors prepared to deliberate on whether Derek Chauvin was guilty of killing George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was arrested in May 2020 over the use of a fake banknote.

A jury has found white former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three charges in the murder of Black man George Floyd last year.

Guilty on all three counts. It took but ten hours for the jury to make Derek Chauvin the state of Minnesota's first ever white policeman convicted of murder. We ask if the outrage sparked by last May's killing of George Floyd marks a turning point for the United States and a criminal justice system that's violent, harsh and where many of the country's 18,000 law enforcement bodies wield outsized power.

The murder of George Floyd led to renewed calls for reforms in policing. But one year on, many Americans say not enough has happened to help stop police violence against Black people.