As the prosecution of George Floyd’s murder concluded, accountability for law enforcement amplified.
Former Minneapolis officer Tou Thao, who allegedly kept bystanders back while officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck, was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Reportedly, Thao rejected a plea agreement, and Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill decided the verdict instead of going to trial. Judge Cahill finalized the decision based on written filings from each side and evidence from previous cases.
A 177-page ruling filed on Monday night was released Tuesday. “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 stated in the ruling.
“While we have now reached the end of the prosecution of Floyd’s murder, it is not behind us,” Minnesota Attorney General and lead prosecutor Keith Ellison said. “There is much more that prosecutors, law-enforcement leaders, rank-and-file officers, elected officials, and community can do to bring about true justice in law enforcement and true trust and safety in all communities.”
According to the judge, under Minneapolis Police Department policies, “it was objectively unreasonable to (among other things): encourage fellow officers to engage in a dangerous, prone restraint for 9 minutes and 24 seconds; encourage those officers not to use a hobble; actively assist their restraint by acting as a ‘human traffic cone’; and prevent bystanders from rendering medical aid.”
The judge also stated 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.”
Thao was convicted on federal civil rights charges along with Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane; other officers reportedly involved in the incident. Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Floyd died in May 2020 after being pinned to the ground. The tragic incident sparked multiple rounds of worldwide protests against police brutality.
This year, Vice President Kamala Harris and others have joined to reintroduce the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct, ban chokeholds, and end “qualified immunity.”