The Minneapolis police officer is sentenced to almost five years in prison for aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd, while the judge criticizes him for “preaching” in court and showing no remorse
- Tou Thao was sentenced to 57 months for the death of George Floyd in 2020
- The judge sentenced him to six months longer than prosecutors had suggested.
The fourth and final former Minneapolis police officer has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for his role in the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
The sentence handed down to Tou Thao, 37, by the county judge was six months longer than the sentence proposed by Minneapolis prosecutors.
I expected a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgment of some responsibility. And less preaching,’ Judge Peter Cahill told Thao during sentencing on Monday.
It comes three months after Thao, a nine-year veteran of the force, was convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Thao testified that he served as a “human trafficking cone” when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly ten minutes, ultimately killing him.
The fourth and final former Minneapolis police officer, Tou Thao, has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for his role in the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Thao was also sentenced last year to three and a half years on federal charges of disenfranchising Floyd. The police officers involved in Floyd’s murder have faced federal and state charges, both incur jail time but can be served at the same time.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other prosecutors handling state charges had asked the judge to sentence Thao to 51 months in prison.
In its 177 page ruling, Cahill said Thao’s actions separated Chauvin and two other former officers from the crowd, including an emergency medical technicianallowing his colleagues to continue to restrain Floyd and preventing bystanders from providing medical assistance.
“There is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao’s actions were factually unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer, viewed under the totality of the circumstances,” Cahill wrote.
It concluded: “Thao’s actions were all the more unreasonable in light of the fact that he had a duty to intervene to stop the excessive use of force by the other officers and was trained to provide medical assistance.”
Thao’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder in 2021. The other two officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, held Floyd’s knees and buttocks while Chauvin knelt on his neck.
Last year, Lane and Kueng pleaded guilty in state court to accessory to second-degree manslaughter. Lane was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, while Kueng was sentenced to three years.
Thao was also sentenced last year to three and a half years on federal charges of disenfranchising Floyd.
In a federal trial last year, Kueng and Lane were also found guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Lane was sentenced to two and a half years and Kueng to three years in federal prison, concurrent with the state sentence.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in state prison for the second-degree unintentional murder of Floyd.
Last year, he also received a concurrent sentence of 21 years in prison on federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
