Tou Thao, the former Minneapolis police officer who held back a crowd of bystanders during George Floyd's fatal arrest in May 2020, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison Monday for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Thao is already serving a 3 1/2-year sentence for his February 2022 conviction on federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights during the arrest. He was sentenced last July in the federal case.
"Mr. Thao, to be perfectly honest after three years of reflection I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgement of some responsibility and less preaching," Hennepin County Judge Peter A. Cahill said after Thao delivered a statement in court Monday. "Suffice is to say, that I think your culpability is less than Mr. Chauvin, but well above Mr. Kueng and Mr. Lane as an experienced senior officer who was in the best position to save George Floyd," Cahill continued.
Thao received credit for 340 days already served. He will serve his state sentence concurrently with his federal sentence.
"Upon release from your federal sentence, you will be transferred to the Minnesota Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of your state sentence unless alternative arrangements are made with the United States Bureau of Prisons," Cahill told Thao on Monday.
In October 2022, Thao agreed to a trial by stipulated evidence in the state case, waiving his right to a trial by jury and allowing his fate to be decided by Judge Cahill. The judge found him guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in May.
Monday's sentencing hearing in the case marks the end in a series of state and federal trials stemming from Floyd's killing for the four former officers involved in his death.
The sentencing in Thao's state case comes over three years after Thao and former officers Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng were fired and arrested for their actions -- or lack thereof -- in May 2020 as Chauvin pressed his knee into the neck and back of Floyd, who was handcuffed and lying on his stomach, for more than nine minutes.
During the arrest, Lane held down Floyd's legs, Kueng held down Floyd's torso, and Thao stood nearby and kept back a crowd of upset bystanders.
Calls to Thao's attorney and lawyers representing the Floyd family were not immediately returned Monday morning.
