Derek Chauvin pleads not guilty to violating teen's civil rights in 2017

The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd pleaded not guilty Thursday to violating the civil rights of a teenager in a separate case that involved a restraint similar to the one used on Floyd.

Derek Chauvin was convicted earlier this year  on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's 2020 death. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years. He's also charged in federal court with violating Floyd's civil rights when he knelt on the Black man's neck for about 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd was facedown on the pavement, not resisting and pleading for air.

But another indictment against Chauvin  alleges he carried out a similar act against a then-14-year-old boy in 2017. This indictment alleges Chauvin deprived the teenager, who is Black, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boy's neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.