Derek Chauvin gets 22-and-a-half years in jail for murdering George Floyd

Former US police officer Derek Chauvin has been jailed for 22-and-a-half years for murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis last year.

Chauvin, 45, was convicted of second and third degree murder and manslaughter in April over a case that made global headlines and sparked protests.

Video showed the white police officer had his knee on the neck of Mr Floyd, a black man, for more than nine minutes while arresting him on 25 May 2020.

Mr Floyd was being arrested on suspicion of using a fake $20 note but he was handcuffed, restrained, and repeatedly called out “I can’t breathe” before he died.

The case re-energised the Black Lives Matter movement, with protests across the US and in other countries against racial inequality and police brutality.

Fewer than a dozen police officers have been sentenced for an on-duty murder in the US in the last 15 years and Chauvin is the first white police officer in Minnesota to be convicted of killing a black man.

The three other officers who encountered Mr Floyd that day are facing trial in August.

They and Chauvin also face federal charges of depriving Mr Floyd of his civil rights and a conviction carries a possible death sentence.

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