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Derek Chauvin was indicted in the arrest of a 14-year-old whom prosecutors say he knelt on for 17 minutes and hit with a flashlight

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Haven Orecchio-Egresitz
·4 min read
Derek Chauvin
Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd. Minnesota Department of Corrections via AP/Court TV via AP

  • Derek Chauvin faces a civil-rights charge in the violent arrest of a 14-year-old in 2017.

  • Prosecutors say Chauvin hit the boy with a flashlight and knelt on his back and neck for 17 minutes.

  • Chauvin is accused of using his authority as an officer to deprive the teen of his rights.

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A federal grand jury has indicted the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on a civil-rights charge in the 2017 arrest of a 14-year-old boy.

The charge was announced Friday, the same day Chauvin and three other former officers were indicted on additional civil-rights charges in the death of George Floyd.

Federal prosecutors accuse Chauvin of using his authority as an officer to deprive the Black teenager of his constitutionally protected civil rights. Chauvin held his knee to to the teen's upper back and neck for 17 minutes while he lay prone, was handcuffed, and was not resisting, according to the federal indictment.

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Details of the 2017 incident came to light last month during Chauvin's murder trial.

In a court filing, the Minnesota state prosecutor Matthew Frank said videos from the arrest show Chauvin striking the teenager in the head and then pinning him to the ground with his knee for nearly 17 minutes, ignoring complaints that the teen couldn't breathe.

Chauvin and another officer had been called to the teen's home after his mother reported that her two children had assaulted her, according to the filing. The officers told the boy, who was lying on the floor, that he was under arrest, and then Chauvin struck him several times with a flashlight before putting him in the prone position.

Chauvin hit the boy with the flashlight, then grabbed his throat and hit him again in the head with it, according to the filing. The teen called out for his mother and for the officers to stop hurting him, the indictment said.

He bled from his left ear and later was hospitalized to get stitches, according to the filing.