Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer who held his knee to George Floyd’s neck for minutes will be tried separately from the three other former officers accused in his death, according to an order filed Tuesday that cites limited courtroom space due to COVID-19 restrictions.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors in the case against the four Minneapolis officers charged in the death of George Floyd requested that the trial delayed by three months.

The Star Tribune reports prosecutors cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the amount of time needed before enough people are vaccinated and health risks are sufficiently diminished.

The trial has been scheduled for March 8 for the four now-fired police officers charged in the death of Floyd on May 25 while he was forcibly detained on a south Minneapolis street corner.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police in Minneapolis on Thursday released body-camera video from a traffic stop one night earlier that ended with a man shot dead, an extraordinarily quick move aimed at stemming public anger over the city’s first police-involved death since George Floyd died while being restrained by officers in May.

The confrontation happened about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in a gas station on the south side, about a mile from where Floyd died. Police said the man — identified by his father as Dolal Idd — was a suspect in a felony and that eyewitnesses said he had fired first.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s pardon board will consider freeing a Black man who was imprisoned for life as a teenager in the 2002 slaying of an 11-year-old girl hit by a stray bullet while doing homework at her dining room table.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than 300 Minneapolis residents signed up to speak Wednesday night on a plan to shrink the city’s police department, with some pleading for City Council members to deliver the reforms they promised after George Floyd’s death and others warning it would be irresponsible to cut officers amid soaring crime rates.

The council was expected to vote on the plan late Wednesday after several hours of public comment, and 11 of its 13 members have already cast committee votes in favor of key components of it.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis City Council members who tried unsuccessfully to dismantle the police department in response to George Floyd’s death are voting Wednesday on whether to shrink it, a move that could imperil the entire city budget because the mayor is threatening to use his veto to protect public safety amid soaring crime rates.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge on Thursday rejected defense requests to move the trial of four former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death, and also ordered that all four will be tried together instead of separately.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of the leader of an Illinois anti-government group who is accused of being the mastermind behind the 2017 bombing of a suburban Minneapolis mosque.

Michael Hari, 49, of Clarence, has pleaded not guilty to multiple civil rights and hate crimes stemming from the pipe bombing of Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge has dismissed a third-degree murder charge filed against the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck, saying there was not enough probable cause for that count to proceed to trial. The more serious second-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin remains.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd posted bail Wednesday and was released from jail, leading Minnesota’s governor to activate the National Guard to help keep the peace in the event of protests.

According to court documents, Derek Chauvin posted a $1 million bond and was released from the state’s facility in Oak Park Heights, where he had been detained. Hennepin County jail records show he was released shortly before 11:30 a.m.