Ex-Officer Guilty of Abetting Manslaughter in George Floyd’s Killing

A judge in Minneapolis ruled that the former officer, Tou Thao, was guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in the killing of Mr. Floyd in 2020.

Tou Thao was the last of the four officers with unresolved criminal charges in the death of George Floyd.Credit...Kerem Yucel/Agence France-Press — Getty Images

By Amanda Holpuch

May 2, 2023

A former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders as other officers restrained George Floyd was found guilty on Monday of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Mr. Floyd’s killing. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said in the verdict that the former officer, Tou Thao, who had waived his right to a jury trial, “actively encouraged his three colleagues’ dangerous prone restraint of Floyd.” Mr. Thao, 37, was the last of the four officers with unresolved criminal charges in the killing of Mr. Floyd. Mr. Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after one of the officers, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. Two other officers held Mr. Floyd down while Mr. Thao, who was Mr. Chauvin’s partner, kept away bystanders who were saying that Mr. Floyd was struggling to breathe and needed help.