Who is Minneapolis cop Tou Thao?
GEORGE Floyd was murdered after Minneapolis police officers abused their positions when making an arrest against Floyd.
Amongst the four police officers is Tou Thao and here's everything to know about his role in the murder of George Floyd.
Who is Minneapolis cop Tou Thao?
Before joining the force Thao worked as a supervisor in a fast-food restaurant and was a security guard for a large medical device manufacturer.
The 34-year-old had served as a Minneapolis police officer for nine years before the murder of Floyd.
Prior to his career, Thao attended North Hennepin Community College in nearby Brooklyn Park, Minn. with the intention of earning an associate degree in law enforcement but never graduating.
When is Thao's trial?
Thao, Chauvin, Kueng, and Lane all appeared by videoconference on September 14, 2021, for their arraignment.
All four defendants pleaded not guilty.
On February 24, 2022, all three officers were found guilty on all counts during their federal trial.
Back in August, Thao, Kueng, and Lang asked for their federal trials to be separated from Chauvin.
Lawyers for Keung and Thao claimed that their clients would be unfairly prejudiced if they went to trial alongside Chauvin.
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“The jury will have insurmountable difficulty distinguishing the alleged acts of each defendant from the alleged acts of his co-defendants,” Thao's attorney Bob Paule claims. “Mr. Thao will obtain a fair and more impartial trial he is tried separately from his co-defendants."
On May 2, 2023, Thae was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
During his sentencing, on August 7, Thao was sentenced to 57 months in prison with credit for 340 days served.
Prosecutors originally requested Thao be given 51 months, however, Judge Peter Cahill has announced his frustration and reasoning for his decision of a 57-month sentence.
"I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgment of some responsibility. And less preaching," Judge Cahill said to Thao.
At this moment, Thao is already serving three-and-a-half years in jail on the account of depriving Floyd of his civil rights.
Does Tou Thao have a history of allegations of violence?
As a rookie, he was cited eight times for being dishonest or taking shortcuts and had six police conduct complaints filed against him during his nine years.
In 2014, Thao and another officer were accused of punching, kicking, and kneeing an unarmed Black man in handcuffs just blocks away from where Floyd was killed.
He was later sued by Lamar Ferguson in connection with that case and it was then settled by the Minneapolis Police Department who agreed to pay him $25,000.
On May 25, 2020, Thao was riding with Chauvin and decided to help two rookie cops, Keung and Lane, on a call.
A dispatcher canceled the plea for help while Thao and Chauvin were on their way to the scene saying the officers appeared to have the situation under control but they headed to the scene regardless.
Thao worked to control the growing crowd as Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
He later told investigators that he couldn’t really see what his fellow officers were doing because he was focused on the crowd.
What did Tou Thao say about the death of George Floyd?
A video of Thao's 2-hour interview with investigators was made public in August 2020.
He told investigators that when he arrived on the scene he suspected Floyd of being under the influence of drugs due to his behavior.
He said that he expected the arresting officers to take care of Floyd and focused on the crowd that was becoming agitated.
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Thao explained that police are trained that if a suspect can talk, then he also can breathe but claimed that he had never seen the kneeling technique before but was aware that trainers have instructed officers to use their knees as leverage.
When asked what he could have done differently, he responded, “This is a horrible feeling, as an officer hopes to go through their career not dealing with a situation like this when someone dies. … It’s affected my family and taken a mental toll.”