Tou Thao
Tou Thao was a veteran officer in the Minneapolis Police Department for close to ten years, when he a viral video seemed to show him playing a supporting role in the controversial killing of George Floyd, on May 25, 2020.[1]
Thao, his partner, Derek Chauvin, and two officers with less than a week of active duty, were fired shortly after the video went viral.[1] Chauvin was first charged with third degree murder.[2] On June 3, 2020, prosecutors escalated his charges to second degree murder, and charged Thao and the other two officers with aiding and abetting murder.
Reporters have found that the Minneapolis Police Department had policies, on the books, that should have called for the junior officers to have intervened, and prevented Chauvin, the senior officer, from killing Floyd.[3] The viral video recorded both Thomas K. Lane and Andrew Keung voicing concerns that Chauvin's use of force was putting Floyd at risk. The video shows Thao standing between the crowd of onlookers who had gathered and his three colleagues who were restraining Floyd.[4] The video shows Thao shove a bystander who may have been approaching the officers to intervene.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bernard Condon; Todd Richmond; Michael R. Sisak. "What to know about 4 officers charged in George Floyd's death". ABC7 Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 2020-06-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20200605004540/https://abc7.com/6229951/.
- ↑ Brendan O'Brien (2020-06-03). "New charges against Minneapolis policemen as protests continue". Reuters (Minneapolis). https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests/new-charges-against-minneapolis-policemen-as-protests-continue-idUSKBN23A1FY. Retrieved 2020-06-24. "The three men - Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao - have also been taken into custody. Aiding and abetting second-degree murder carries the same maximum punishment as the underlying offense - 40 years in prison."
- ↑ Bernard Condon; Todd Richmond (2020-06-07). "Minneapolis requires cops to stop unreasonable force, but officers in George Floyd's arrest didn't intervene". ABC 7 News. https://abc7news.com/j-alexander-kueng-thomas-lane-tou-thao-derek-chauvin/6236151/. Retrieved 2020-06-24. "Lane held Floyd's legs and Kueng held his back while Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd's head and neck. That's when Floyd repeatedly said "I can't breathe, "Mama" and "please." At one point, Floyd said, "I'm about to die." Nevertheless, Chauvin, Lane and Kueng didn't move. And a fourth officer, Tou Thao, continued standing nearby keeping onlookers back."
- ↑ Bill Chappell (2020-06-03). "Chauvin And 3 Former Officers Face New Charges Over George Floyd's Death". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2020-06-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20200605183728/https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/868910542/chauvin-and-3-former-officers-face-new-charges-over-george-floyds-death. "After Thao watched his fellow officers subduing Floyd, the complaint states, 'The defendant then became concerned about a number of citizens who had gathered and were watching the officers subdue Mr. Floyd, and potential traffic concerns, and so the defendant stood between those citizens and the three officers.' It adds, 'When one citizen stepped off the curb, imploring Chauvin to get off of Mr. Floyd, the defendant put his hands on the citizen to keep him back.'"
<ref> tag with name "startribune2020-06-17" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
