Derek Chauvin Pleads Not Guilty To Federal Civil Rights Charges From Prison

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted for the killing of George Floyd, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal civil rights charges in the assault of a 14-year-old Black boy in 2017.

The indictment alleges that Chauvin held the teen by the throat and struck him multiple times in the head with a flashlight. Like in Floyd's death, Chauvin allegedly placed his knee on the teen's neck and upper back after he was handcuffed and ceased resisting, the Department of Justice said in a statement in May.

According to the police report, the teen, who was not named in the federal indictment, bled from the ear and required two stitches after the incident. Chauvin wrote in his police report that the boy resisted arrest and described him as a 6-foot-2 and 240-pound man.

State prosecutors recounted that Chauvin used similar levels of aggressive force in instances that date back to 2014.

Chauvin attended a hearing in a federal courtroom in Minneapolis through a video link.

Chauvin, who was sentenced in April to over 22 years in prison, is also facing charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights when he placed his knee on his neck for over nine minutes before killing him on May 25, 2020.

Chauvin, 45, had served in the Minneapolis Police Department since 2001.

Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement at Oak Park Heights maximum-security state prison in Minnesota "for fears for his safety." On July 30, he went on trial for nine counts of tax evasion.

Floyd's death sparked mass demonstrations across the U.S. in the summer of 2020.