A Minnesota judge found former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for his role in the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, CNN reported Tuesday, citing court documents.
In his decision, Judge Peter Cahill wrote that Thao “actively encouraged his three colleagues’ dangerous prone restraint of Floyd” contrary to his training that the positioning could cause fatal asphyxia.
“Like the bystanders, Thao could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away as the restraint continued,” Cahill wrote in the 177-page verdict. “Yet Thao made a conscious decision to actively participate in Floyd’s death: he held back the concerned bystanders and even prevented an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter from rendering the medical aid Floyd so desperately needed.”
The verdict marks the end of a series of state and federal trials for the four former officers involved in Floyd’s death, a killing captured on video that set off worldwide protests objecting to police violence against Black people.
As noted by CNN, Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Thao were fired and arrested for their actions in May 2020 as Chauvin pressed his knee into the neck and back of Floyd, who was handcuffed and lying on his stomach, for more than nine minutes.
All of the former officers have been convicted of crimes in the years since then.
Thao’s sentencing is set for August 7.
Read the full report on CNN.
