Left: Tou Thau (via Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office/AP). Right: FILE – Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, left, and his attorney, Robert Paule, arrive for sentencing for violating George Floyd’s civil rights outside the federal courthouse, July 27, 2022, in St. Paul, Minn. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP, File). Inset: Thao at the scene of George Floyd’s death while in police custody (via Facebook screengrab).
Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer to be sentenced for his role in the killing of George Floyd, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, a state judge ruled on Monday.
Prosecutors sought an additional 51 months, or 4 years in prison, for Thao, telling Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill in its proposed sentencing brief that Thao’s conduct was “calculated, deliberate, and directly facilitated and perpetuated the restraint that led to Floyd’s death.”
Thao, they noted, knew Floyd was in distress and encouraged officers who had Floyd pinned on the ground to keep him in the prone position instead of using a hobble, or a type of leg restraint that may have saved Floyd’s life. During his bench trial, Thao told the court he didn’t want to use the hobble because it meant a superior officer would have to come to the scene.
