Judge finds ex-officer Tou Thao guilty in George Floyd’s death

MINNEAPOLIS — A judge on Tuesday found former Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter for his role in the May 2020 death of George Floyd.

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Video shot by a bystander on May 25, 2020, showed then-Officer Derek Chauvin holding his knee to Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as he struggled to breathe and called for his mother. Thao held back a small crowd and kept anyone from intervening, including an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter who wanted to check Floyd’s pulse. Two other officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, helped to hold Floyd down.

Chauvin, Kueng and Lane were earlier convicted of state and federal charges. A jury also found Thao guilty of federal charges. He is currently serving a 3 1/2-year prison sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

Judge Peter Cahill found Thao guilty Tuesday of state charges based on evidence from Chauvin’s state trial on murder and manslaughter charges and the former officers’ federal trials, WCCO-TV reported.

Thao is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 7, according to WCCO. He is expected to face a sentence between 41 and 57 months in prison, KTSP-TV reported.

Thao testified in federal court last year that he was focused on controlling the crowd when Floyd was killed and that he assumed his fellow officers were taking proper care of the 46-year-old, according to KSTP. Prosecutors argued that the nearly 9-year veteran of the police force should have known that Floyd needed medical attention, the news station reported.