4 Jun 2020

George Floyd protests continue across US - latest details

From Checkpoint, 5:12 pm on 4 June 2020

After more than a week of protests, authorities in the United States have now laid charges against all four police officers involved in the death of African-American man George Floyd.

The murder charge against Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Mr Floyd's neck, has been upgraded to second degree murder.

It carries a maximum of 40 years in prison and the three other officers have been charged with aiding and abetting murder.

At the same time, President Trump's former defense secretary has launched a blistering attack on the commander in chief, and the man in the same post now, has broken ranks to oppose the president.

Our Washington correspondent is Jagruti Dave. She told Lisa Owen while the protests were more peaceful, people were continuing to defy curfews.

And a short time ago, the Medical Examiner's office released its full 20-page report into George Floyd's death.

It says he suffered blunt force injuries to his forehead, face and upper lip, mucosal injuries inside his lips and blunt force injuries on his shoulders, hands, elbows and legs.

It reveals George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus on April 3 and a nasal swab performed during his autopsy also came back positive.

George Floyd suffered from heart disease and some narrowing of his arteries although the report says his lungs appeared healthy and neither this or Covid-19 attributed to his death.

There were also traces of methamphetamine and fentanyl in his blood.