Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao sentenced to over four years in prison for George Floyd killing

Ex-officer was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in Floyd's death

Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for his role in George Floyd’s murder.

Thao was found guilty in May of state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in connection to Floyd’s death in 2020.

The sentence will run concurrently with Thao’s three-and-a-half year prison term on a separate federal civil rights conviction. 

Thao held back bystanders while fellow former officer Derek Chauvin pinned down and pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes back on 25 May 2020.

Bodycam footage showed Thao preventing witnesses from coming to Floyd’s aid, as he lay on the ground crying out for help, saying: “I can’t breathe”.

“This is why you don’t do drugs, kids,” Thao was heard telling bystanders.

He was also heard telling another emergency responder to “back off” when she asked to check Floyd’s pulse.

On 2 May, Thao was convicted of second-degree aiding and abetting manslaughter. 

Tou Thao was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in connection with George Floyd’s death (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office)

Thao testified at his trial that he had merely served as a “human traffic cone”.

However, Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill in Minnesota ruled that Thao “made a conscious decision to actively participate in Floyd’s death” and “actively encouraged” Chauvin’s restraint despite knowing that it could endanger Floyd’s life.

“The short of it: Tou Thao did not want to follow the proper protocol and the work it would entail,” Judge Cahill said. “George Floyd died as a result.”

Thao is the fourth former Minnesota police officer convicted over Floyd’s death, which set off a racial reckoning around the United States in the summer of 2020 following a string of high-profile police killings of Black citizens.

A mourner pays their respects at a mural at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, April 23, 2021 (Associated Press)

Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in 2021. He also pleaded guilty to federal charges for violating Floyd’s civil rights and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Former officers J Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were also found guilty of federal civil rights charges and are each serving two to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Lane also pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Kueng was sentenced to three and a half years for the same charges.