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Derek Chauvin pleads not guilty to alleged 2017 civil rights violation

An indictment alleges Chauvin held his knee on a 14-year-old boy's neck while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, convicted in the 2020 murder of George Floyd, has pleaded not guilty to allegedly violating a 14-year-old boy's civil rights in 2017.

Chauvin, who is white, appeared virtually in federal court Thursday on an indictment that alleges he deprived the Black teenager of his rights when held his knee on the boy's neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

A similar hold was used by Chauvin on Floyd during his May 2020 arrest in Minneapolis.

Derek Chauvin was convicted this year on state charges of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder in Floyd's death. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison and is currently being held in Minnesota's only maximum security prison, Oak Park Heights.

Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, the other ex-Minneapolis officers charged in Floyd's death, were all in court earlier this week via teleconference, facing federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights. All four pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

RELATED: Former Minneapolis police officers plead not guilty to federal civil rights charges in George Floyd's death

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