For his part in George Floyd’s de@th, a former Minneapolis police officer has been given a 57-month prison term or about five years.
A Minnesota judge found the officer, Tou Thao, guilty of encouraging manslaughter in May.
Derek Chauvin knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck for over ten minutes as Mr. Thao served as a “human traffic cone” to keep onlookers at bay, according to Mr. Thao’s testimony.
On May 25, 2020, Mr. Floyd passed away, prompting huge demonstrations across the US.
In addition to the state m*rder charges for Mr. Chauvin, all four former police officers engaged in the incident were found guilty on federal civil rights charges. Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng, two former officers, admitted to helping to commit second-degree homicide.
The 57 months will be served concurrently with Thao’s three-and-a-half-year sentence for his civil rights conviction.
BBC News verifies the news on it official Twitter account:
Tou Thao: Ex-officer in George Floyd case gets 57 months for role in killing https://t.co/ejGwsM5eG5
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 7, 2023
In the manslaughter case, the former cop had renounced his right to a jury trial and chosen to have Judge Peter Cahill render the decision. He also gave up his right to give testimony and interview witnesses.
Judge Cahill stated in a 177-page decision in May that Mr. Thao’s actions prohibited a qualified emergency doctor from being able to assist Mr. Floyd. These acts included protecting Chauvin and the two other cops from the mob.
“There is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao’s actions were objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer when viewed under the totality of the circumstances,” the judge wrote.
Judge Cahill added that Thao’s actions “were even more unreasonable because he was under a duty to intervene to stop other officers’ excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid.”
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