Minnesota Attorney General Explains Why George Floyd’s Death Not Charged as Hate Crime

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison exits the Hennepin County Family Justice Center after a pretrial hearing for the four former Minneapolis Police officers charged in the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sept. 11, 2020. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Minnesota’s attorney general, who led the prosecution against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, said prosecutors didn’t bring hate crime charges against Chauvin in George Floyd’s death because there was no evidence of racial bias.

Asked by CBS' “60 Minutes” if the law enforcement restraint leading to Floyd’s death last year was a hate crime, Attorney General Keith Ellison said he wouldn’t call it that “because hate crimes are crimes where there’s an explicit motive and of bias.”