Tou Thao, former MPD officer charged in George Floyd's killing, found guilty

Tou Thao, the ex-Minneapolis police officer who nearly three years ago kept back concerned bystanders as George Floyd died under the knee of convicted cop Derek Chauvin, was found guilty Tuesday of aiding and abetting manslaughter.

The verdict by Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill came in the last case to be prosecuted in either state or federal court in the trials of the four officers who had roles in the killing at 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue on May 25, 2020. Floyd's death was decried globally as an especially brazen act of police brutality.

"Thao, Chauvin's partner on that night, was an experienced Minneapolis police officer with almost a decade's experience. He knew that the officers' prone restraint could kill," Cahill wrote. "Like the other officers, Thao had been trained specifically to turn an individual onto his side to avoid positional asphyxia, the very thing that several eminent medical specialists who testified at trial concluded caused Floyd's death.

https://www.startribune.com/hennepin-county-tou-thao-mpd-officer-george-floyd-killing-manslaughter-cahill-minneapolis-police/600271709/