Former Minneapolis officer sentenced to nearly 5 years on state charge for role in George Floydâs death
Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, was sentenced Monday to 4 years and 9 months. Thao had testified that he merely served as a âhuman traffic coneâ when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floydâs neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020. A bystander video captured Floydâs fading cries of âI canât breathe.â Floydâs killing touched off protests worldwide and forced a national reckoning of police brutality and racism. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill