[ad_1]
Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison on Monday for his role in the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
A state judge him guilty in May of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
The sentence handed down on Monday was more severe than the four years and six months requested by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for Thao.
The state sentence will run concurrently with Thao’s existing federal sentence of three and a half years.
Officer’s actions deemed ‘unreasonable’
In his testimony, Thao claimed he merely served as a “human traffic cone” while another officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
But Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill wrote in his May ruling that Thao separated the officers from bystanders who could have performed first aid, including an emergency medical technician.
“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.
Footage captured at the time recorded Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.”
The incident sparked outrage in the United States as well as protests around the world.
More to follow…
zc/wd (AP, Reuters)
[ad_2]
Source link
