Police Culture on Trial in Case Against Officers in Killing of George Floyd
nytimesAUG 2021
© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.15.0
Officers are both trained and required to intervene in 'constitutional violations', but they're rarely charged for not doing so. Convicting these three officers could help change the "blue wall of silence" culture that has enabled violence against civilians and fueled racial unrest.
Though Floyd's death was a tragedy, the actions of these officers weren't necessarily criminal. They had no reason to believe Chauvin was mishandling Floyd, who had a potentially fatal level of fentanyl in his body at the time of his death.