DOJ planned to arrest Derek Chauvin in court and charge him with civil-rights violations if he was acquitted of murder, report says

Justice Department officials planned to arrest Derek Chauvin at the courthouse and charge him with civil-rights violations if he was found not guilty of murder in George Floyd's killing or if there was a mistrial, the Star Tribune's Andy Mannix reported Wednesday.

According to the report, federal prosecutors spent months building a police-brutality case against Chauvin and the three other former Minneapolis police officers charged in connection to Floyd's death.

In an effort not to influence the outcome of the murder trial, the department held off on pushing forward with a grand-jury indictment but had a plan in place in case Chauvin was acquitted, the Star Tribune reported.