A former Minneapolis police officer who stopped concerned bystanders from intervening as one of his colleagues fatally knelt on George Floyd's neck has been found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
According to court documents filed on Monday (May 1), Minnesota judge Peter Cahill handed down the guilty verdict to ex-officer Tou Thao who he said "actively encouraged his three colleagues’ dangerous prone restraint of Floyd” during the 2020 killing, per CNN.
“Like the bystanders, Thao could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away as the restraint continued,” Cahill wrote in the 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.”
On May 25, 2020, Thao was among the officers at the scene when now-former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Body camera footage shows Thao telling bystanders "This is why you don't do drugs, kids" and directing an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter to "back off" when she asked to check Floyd's pulse.
Thao has already been convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights and was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. His sentencing for his state conviction, which he will serve concurrently with his federal sentence, is set for August 7.
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