A clear duty to intervene

Cops have a duty — and a legal responsibility — to police themselves when it comes to excessive use of force.

That's the strong, long overdue message from Thursday's convictions of three former Minneapolis Police Department officers. Cops have an obligation to protect those in their care from harm — even if that harm is being caused by a fellow officer. Looking the other way isn't an option.

J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao were found guilty on all civil rights charges in their federal trial. Following 13 hours of deliberations, a jury convicted them of depriving George Floyd of his constitutional rights by failing to stop a fellow officer from using excessive force. That force, which involved kneeling on Floyd's neck and holding him on the ground, caused his death on a south Minneapolis street in May 2020. The fourth officer on the scene that day, Derek Chauvin, was convicted last year of killing Floyd.

Given the racial implications in the Floyd case, it is significant to note that the 12-member jury that convicted Kueng, Lane and Thao was all white and made up of people from all across Minnesota.

That jury unanimously rejected defense arguments that MPD training on the duty to intervene was inadequate. Each of the defendants testified that they didn't see what Chauvin was doing and didn't know that Floyd was literally having the life squeezed out of him.

Lawyers for the three also argued that Chauvin, with 19 years of experience, was the senior officer, so the others had to follow his orders. When Chauvin said there was no need to turn Floyd or let him up, the other cops said they trusted that he was right. But the jury rightly didn't buy any of those claims. And because the jury found that Floyd's restraint caused his death, the judge can impose longer sentences.

Concerns that the verdicts will have a chilling effect on police retention and recruitment are less important than the clear message sent by the jury: If an officer is engaged in excessive force, the law compels others on the scene to intervene.

The Rev. Al Sharpton rightly called the convictions "a huge victory of civil rights and police reform" that send "a clear, definitive message that [fellow officers] cannot cooperate with police criminality.''