Officer Charged With George Floyd Death Gets Nearly 5 Years in Jail

An officer involved in the George Floyd incident has been sentenced for standing in-between the officers and Floyd and bystanders, allowing the crime to take place.

Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, (L), and his attorney Robert Paule arrive for sentencing for violating George Floyd's civil rights outside the Federal Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., on July 27, 2022. David Joles/Star Tribune via AP

Tou Thao, a former Minneapolis police officer who was involved in the death of George Floyd, has been sentenced to almost five years in prison.

During the Floyd incident in May 2020, Mr. Thao had held back people as another officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes—an action said to be fatal. On Monday, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Mr. Thao to a prison term of 4 years and nine months. “Based on the Court’s factual findings, there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao knew Chauvin was creating an unreasonable risk to Floyd. Thao was aware of the restraint, the officer’s actions, and the fact that Floyd was in medical distress,” the court ruling (pdf) said.

“Based on his training, Thao was actively aware that the restraint he witnessed grossly deviated from the standard of care, was extremely dangerous, and risked Floyd’s death … Like Chauvin, Thao consciously disregarded the risk that the restraint posed to Floyd, and Thao perceived that Chauvin consciously disregard that risk.”

The court went on to claim that Mr. Thao “intended that his presence or actions aid Chauvin’s commission of second-degree manslaughter.”

“Thao’s presence as a so-called ‘human traffic cone’ between the officers and Floyd and the bystanders also intentionally assisted the other officers, by allowing the other officers to continue the restraint and by preventing the bystanders from providing medical aid to Floyd.”

The court ruled that Mr. Thao’s actions that day were “objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer.”

It argued that under the use of force and medical policies of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), where Mr. Thao was trained, it was “objectively unreasonable” to encourage fellow officers to engage in a “dangerous prone restraint for 9 minutes and 24 seconds” while preventing medical aid from reaching Floyd.

“Thao’s actions were even more unreasonable in the light of the fact that he was under a duty to intervene to stop the other officers’ excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid.”

During the sentencing hearing, Mr. Thao said that he was “distressed” by Mr. Floyd’s death but rejected the notion that he played any role in it, according to AP.

“I did not commit these crimes,” he said. “My conscience is clear. I will not be a Judas nor join a mob in self-preservation or betray my God.”