Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao has been sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison for his role in restraining bystanders while his former colleague, Derek Chauvin, fatally restrained George Floyd.
Thao is the last of the police officers involved in Floyd’s 2020 death to be sentenced. In May, he was convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. The sentence handed down by Hennepin County judge Peter Cahill on Monday was longer than the sentence of four years that was recommended under state guidelines.
Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020, even after Floyd lost consciousness. Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
Thao testified that his role in the incident amounted to serving only as a “human traffic cone” to keep bystanders away as Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck while the man repeatedly said he couldn’t breath.
Judge Cahill voiced frustration with Thao, who spoke at his hearing about his growth as a Christian during his time in prison and denied any role in Floyd’s death.
“I did not commit these crimes,” Thao said. “My conscience is clear. I will not be a Judas nor join a mob in self-preservation or betray my God.”
“I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgment of some responsibility. And less preaching,” Cahill told Thao during the hearing.
Cahill found wrote in his 177-page ruling in May that Thao’s actions separated Chauvin and two other former officers from the crowd, including a an emergency medical technician. The judge said this allowed the officers to continue restraining Floyd and prevented bystanders from rendering medical aid.
“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,” Cahill wrote.
“Thao’s actions were even more unreasonable in light of the fact that he was under a duty to intervene to stop the other officers’ excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid,” he added.
Thao’s sentence on the state charges will run concurrently with his 3.5 year sentence in connection with a separate federal civil rights charge. The U.S. Court of Appeals denied Thao’s appeal in the federal case last week.
He will serve his sentence at federal prison before he is ultimately transferred to state prison to serve out the remainder of his state sentence.
Thao’s defense attorney, Robert Paule, had requested a sentence of 41 months in prison in the state case, which would have accounted for the 340 days already served.
“The death of Mr. Floyd is a tragedy just as the death of any human being is, and this is not a court of retribution. This is a court of justice,” the attorney said Monday. “I would point out that my client did not begin that day, did not go out to this call with anything but the purest of intentions.”
The attorney added: “He had been a police officer sworn to serve, and he believed in that service. And he went out to help the situation out. He cannot undo what’s done, and obviously the court has spoken with regard to the verdict in this case. But my client is a good and decent man with a family just as all of us in this courtroom are.”
After the sentencing, Paule said they will appeal.