Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the murder killing of George Floyd, has been sentenced to four years and nine months, even as he denied wrongdoing. Thao testified that he served as a “human traffic cone” when holding back concerned bystanders as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes as the black man pleaded for his life on May 25th, 2020. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Judge Peter Cahill found Thao guilty in May of aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter. Monday’s sentence will run concurrently with a 42 month sentence on a federal civil rights conviction. |
