On Tuesday, a judge in Minnesota formally lifted the gag order that had been placed on the four officers involved in the George Floyd case, allowing them and their legal teams to give statements to the press once again, as reported by The Hill.
The gag order was vacated by Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who declared that it “didn’t work,” and “if anything, may have exacerbated the issue,” due to the officers and their defense attorneys being incapable of responding to negative press reports.
In the incident that sparked nationwide race riots and a far-left movement to abolish America’s police, George Floyd, a black man, died after being restrained by four officers in Minneapolis on May 25th. A bystander filmed the arrest in a video that went viral, where White officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck to restrain him. Although the autopsy confirmed that several drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, were in Floyd’s system at the time, as well as Floyd testing positive for the coronavirus, Chauvin was accused of murdering Floyd.
All four officers seen in the video were soon fired from the Minneapolis Police Department. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, while the other three officers – J. Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao – are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.