(Reuters) – Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for aiding and abetting in the 2020 killing of George Floyd. Floyd, a Black man, died after another officer pinned his neck to the ground during a botched arrest. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill delivered the sentence to Thao, as reported by a local Fox News affiliate. In May, Cahill had found Thao guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in the second degree for his involvement in Floyd’s killing. Thao, who served on the force for nine years, restrained bystanders while three other officers subdued Floyd, who was suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a nearby store.
The incident, captured on a viral video, sparked a global wave of protests against racism and police brutality. The Minnesota Attorney General and other prosecuting attorneys asked the judge to sentence Thao to 51 months in prison. No immediate comment was available from Thao’s legal team on Monday.
In 2021, Derek Chauvin, the white officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, was found guilty of murder. The other two officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, assisted in restraining Floyd’s knees and buttocks during the incident. Last year, Lane and Kueng pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in state court. Lane received a 3-1/2 year prison sentence, while Kueng received three years.
In a separate federal trial, Kueng and Lane were also found guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights. Lane was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in federal prison, which will run concurrently with his state sentence. Chauvin was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in state prison for unintentional second-degree murder. He also received a concurrent sentence of 21 years in prison on federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago
Credit: The Star : News Feed
