May 2 (UPI) — A judge found former Minneapolis Police Department officer Tou Thao guilty Monday night for his role in the death of George Floyd almost three years ago.
His conviction marks the last case involving a former police officer being prosecuted directly for Floyd’s death while in police custody on a Minneapolis street on May 25, 2020.
In his 177-page written ruling, Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill called Thao’s actions “objectively unreasonable,” as the former officer stood by while Floyd was pinned by three fellow officers to the ground, struggling to breathe.
Thao, who was 34 at the time, also prevented bystanders and concerned onlookers from getting close to Floyd, who endured officer Derek Chauvin‘s knee on his neck.
Cahill convicted Thao in the judge-only trial of aiding and abetting manslaughter in Floyd’s death, with a pre-sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 7.
“In this case, the evidence overwhelmingly proves that Tou Thao aided and abetted manslaughter in the second degree on May 25, 2020,” the judge wrote.
“Thao knew his three fellow officers were on top of Floyd, restraining Floyd in the prone position with knees forcefully and unrelentingly pinning down his neck, his middle back, and his lower back and with arms also restraining Floyd’s legs and his handcuffed arms (held behind his back while he was in the prone position). Thao knew that this prone restraint was extremely dangerous because it can cause asphyxia — the inability to breathe — the exact condition Floyd repeatedly told the officers he was suffering. Yet Thao made the conscious decision to aid that dangerous restraint: He actively encouraged the other three officers and assisted their crime by holding back concerned bystanders, declining to render medical aid to Floyd, not instructing any of the other three officers to render medical aid to Floyd, and not permitting any of the bystanders to render medical aid to Floyd, including the off-duty Minneapolis firefighter on the scene trained in CPR.”
Thao is one of four ex-Minneapolis police officers to be convicted in the case.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and given a 22-year sentence. Last month, a Minnesota jury rejected his bid for a new trial.
Last July, Thao and his former colleague J. Alexander Keung were sentenced to three and a half years in prison on federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Keung also pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Former officer Thomas Lane was also convicted of federal civil rights violations and pleaded guilty to state-level aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter changes.
