An officer who worked for the Aurora Police Department in Colorado has been convicted with a misdemeaner under a state ‘failure to intervene’ accountability law adopted after 2020’s push for police reform following the killing of George Floyd, Deon J. Hampton reports for NBC News. A jury determined that in 2021 former Officer Francine Martinez failed to intervene when another officer hit a suspect with his gun more than a dozen times, held him with his hands wrapped around his throat, pointed a gun at his head and threatened to kill him.
After the incident, Martinez was fired and the officer who assaulted the civilian, John Haubert, resigned. Martinez will face up to two years in jail during her sentencing. Haubert was charged with first-degree assault among other charges and will face trial in November.