Derek Chauvin, ex-Minneapolis officer charged in George Floyd’s death

The ex-Minneapolis police officer who is charged with murder of George Floyd has been released on a $1M non-cash bond, according to his attorney.

I can confirm he is no longer in our custody, said Sarah Fitzgerald, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Derek Chauvin, 44, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s case.

The white officer knelt on African-American Geroge Floyds’ neck and pinned him to the ground for nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, as Floyd told him and three other officers he couldn’t breathe.

The other three officers - Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng - have been charged with with aiding and abetting murder.

Floyd’s tragic death unleashed protests against police brutality and racial injustice in different US cities and many world countries that lasted for weeks.

Meanwhile, US President Trump issued an executive order to restrict the use of chokeholds by the police forces across the country, but his order provoked severe criticism from civil rights groups, arguing that it falls far short of their fundamental demands, including an outright ban on chokeholds with no exception .

But the president insisted that chokeholds will be banned except if an officer’s life is at risk.

US police have been criticized in recent days for their heavy-handed tactics against protesters as indiscriminate use of tear gas, flash grenades, and many incidents of police hitting protesters with batons have been recorded and gone viral.