14 • June 5-6, 2020 NATIONAL • FLOYD Continued from page 13 center of the case, Derek Chauvin. If convicted, they could get 40 years in prison. The three officers newly charged in the Floyd’s death — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — were due to make a first court appearance Thursday. Chauvin is not due in court until Monday. Meantime, in Georgia, a white father and son charged in another killing of a black man that has raised racial tensions in the U.S. made a court appearance Thursday via video. A state investigator testified that the man accused of shooting Ahmaud Arbery, Travis McMichael, uttered a racist epithet as he stood over Arbery’s body. The new charges in Minneapolis punctuated an unprecedented week in recent American history, in which largely peaceful protests took place in communities of all sizes but were rocked by bursts of violence, including deadly attacks on officers, theft, vandalism and arson. In Minneapolis alone, more than 220 buildings were damaged or burned, with damage topping $55 million, city officials said. Nationwide, more than 10,000 people have been arrested, an Associated Press tally found. More than a dozen deaths have been reported, though the circumstances in many cases are still being sorted out. From Paris and London to Tel Aviv, Sydney, Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro, Floyd’s death has triggered demonstrations, with protesters decrying inequality, police brutality and other problems in their own countries. “It’s a solidarity question. We stand with our brothers, internationally, our sisters as well, but the same thing is happening here. It’s no different,” Isaak Kabenge said in Stockholm. The attorney for Floyd’s family, Ben Crump, called the additional charges against the officers “a bittersweet moment” and “a significant step forward on the road to justice.” Hundreds of protesters were in New York City’s Washington Square Park when the charges were announced. “It’s not enough,” protester Jonathan Roldan said, insisting all four officers should have been charged from the start. “Right now, we’re still marching because it’s not enough that they got arrested. There needs to be systematic change.” The mood in New York turned somber later in the day after a police officer on an anti-looting patrol was ambushed by a man who walked up behind him and stabbed him in the neck. Two other officers suffered bransonglobe.com gunshot wounds to their hands in the struggle, and the attacker was in critical condition after being shot by police. The new second-degree murder charge alleges Chauvin caused Floyd’s death without intent while committing another felony, namely assault. It carries a heavier sentence than the third-degree charge, which is punishable by up to 25 years behind bars. At a protest in the nation’s capital, 30-year-old Jade Jones said the demonstrations would continue despite the new charges. “That’s the least they could do,” Jones said. “It’s not going to wipe away 400 years of pain.” Prosecutors describe racist slur as Ahmaud Arbery lay dying BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A state investigator alleged Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after killing him with three shots from a pump-action shotgun. The lead Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent in the case testified that Travis and Greg McMichael and a third man in another pickup, William “Roddie” Bryan, used their trucks to chase down and box in Arbery, who repeatedly reversed directions and even jumped into a ditch in a desperate struggle to escape. Travis McMichael then got out of his truck and confronted Arbery, later telling police he shot him in self-defense after Arbery refused his order to get on the ground, Special Agent Richard Dial said. A close examination of the video of the shooting shows the first shot was to Arbery’s chest, the second was to his hand, and the third was to his chest again before he collapsed in the road, Dial said. Bryan, who recorded that video, said he heard the gunman say a racist epithet as he stood over Arbery’s body before police arrived, Dial said. Dial said Bryan gave investigators the information a week after the McMichaels’ arrest, and there’s no indication he said it to Glynn County investigators before that. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery’s family, told reporters outside the courthouse that prosecutors had warned the family before the hearing of the coming testimony about the slur. “It was still very difficult to hear in the context of a prolonged chase, that after he murdered Ahmaud Arbery and stood over his body, he used that racial epithet,” Merritt said. “I don’t think it was self-defense by Mr. McMichael. I think it was self-defense by Mr. Arbery,” Dial said later under defense questioning. “When he couldn’t get away, he chose to fight.” The evidence presented Thursday to support a murder trial also raises questions about the idea that the McMichaels and Bryan were legitimately carrying out a citizens’ arrest of a suspected burglar. Dial testified that Greg McMichaels told police that “he didn’t know if Mr. Arbery had stolen anything or not, but he had a gut feeling” that Arbery had committed prior break-ins in the neighborhood.
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