Tou Thao is the former Minneapolis police officer who stood between bystanders and his fellow officers on May 25, 2020, as Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck. He was convicted in both federal and state court for his role in Floyd’s death, sentenced to concurrent terms totaling four years and nine months, and released from federal custody on November 3, 2025. He is now serving supervised release in Minnesota through June 2027.
What Thao Did on May 25, 2020
Minneapolis officers responded that afternoon to a call about a counterfeit bill at a convenience store in the Powderhorn neighborhood. During the arrest, Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck and back while Floyd lay prone and handcuffed. Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe and called out for his mother before losing consciousness and dying.
Thao’s role during the roughly nine-minute restraint was crowd management. At trial he described himself as a “human traffic cone,” positioning himself between the officers and a growing group of distressed bystanders. One of the people he kept back was an off-duty firefighter who tried to offer medical help or check Floyd’s pulse. Thao ordered her to “back off.” As Floyd lay dying, Thao told the crowd, “This is why you don’t do drugs, kids.”1MPR News. Thao Found Guilty of Aiding and Abetting Manslaughter in the Killing of George Floyd
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill later found that Thao was “an experienced senior officer who was in the best position to save George Floyd.”2CNN. Tou Thao George Floyd Sentence Cahill ruled that Thao had a duty to intervene and was trained to render medical aid, but instead prevented a trained emergency medic from helping Floyd and encouraged the other officers to continue the dangerous prone restraint.3BBC. Tou Thao Sentenced for George Floyd Killing Cahill also found that Thao had discouraged his colleagues from using a “hobble,” a device used to safely restrain someone, which kept Floyd pinned in the position that killed him.1MPR News. Thao Found Guilty of Aiding and Abetting Manslaughter in the Killing of George Floyd
Thao had been hired by the Minneapolis Police Department in 2008 and served about nine years as a full officer, primarily in the Third Precinct on the South Side, before all four officers involved in Floyd’s death were fired the day after Floyd died.4Star Tribune. Trouble Signs Showed Up Early in the Career of Fired Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao5MPR News. Minneapolis Police Union Head Signals Fight for Fired Officers’ Jobs
Federal Conviction
Thao was tried in U.S. District Court in St. Paul along with co-defendants J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane before Judge Paul Magnuson on charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights. On February 24, 2022, a federal jury found all three guilty on all counts. Thao and Kueng were convicted of both failing to intervene to stop Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force and failing to provide Floyd with medical aid. Lane was convicted of the medical-aid charge alone.6MPR News. Jury Convicts Three Former Officers in Floyd Killing
On July 27, 2022, Judge Magnuson sentenced Thao to 42 months in federal prison. Kueng received 36 months, and Lane received 30 months. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the prosecutions “should send a clear and powerful message that the Department of Justice will never tolerate the unlawful abuse of power or victimization of Americans by anyone in law enforcement.”7U.S. Department of Justice. Former Minneapolis Police Officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng Sentenced to Prison
State Conviction and Sentence
In state court, Thao faced charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Lane pleaded guilty to manslaughter in May 2022, and Kueng pleaded guilty in December 2022.8CNN. Alexander Kueng Sentencing Thao refused. When offered a plea deal in August 2022, he rejected it, saying “it would be lying” to plead guilty.9CBS News Minnesota. Fate of Tou Thao Lies With Judge
Instead, Thao waived his right to a jury and agreed to a “stipulated evidence trial” before Judge Cahill. No witnesses testified. Cahill decided the case on written evidence, including transcripts and exhibits from Chauvin’s state murder trial and the federal civil rights trial.10CBS News Minnesota. Kueng Thao Trial George Floyd Killing The arrangement carried a condition: if Thao was found guilty of manslaughter, the state would dismiss the more serious murder charge.
On May 1, 2023, Cahill found Thao guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.11Minnesota Judicial Branch. State of Minnesota v. Tou Thao The judge ruled that Thao’s conduct was “objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer, when viewed under the totality of the circumstances.”3BBC. Tou Thao Sentenced for George Floyd Killing
On August 7, 2023, Cahill sentenced Thao to 57 months in state prison, to run concurrently with his federal sentence.12CBS News Minnesota. Tou Thao State Sentencing 57 Months The state sentence, as the longer of the two, controlled the total time he would serve. At the hearing, Thao remained defiant. “Obviously, on that day, we didn’t intend on — I didn’t intend on doing any malice or anything like that, or try to hurt anyone,” he told the court. “That was never my intent. I did the best I thought I could.”2CNN. Tou Thao George Floyd Sentence His sentencing was the final criminal disposition in the killing of George Floyd.13New York Times. Minneapolis Police Sentence George Floyd
What His Defense Argued
Defense attorney Robert Paule maintained throughout that Thao acted in accordance with his Minneapolis Police Department training and lacked criminal intent. Paule argued Thao believed Floyd was suffering from “excited delirium,” a condition involving extreme agitation that officers were trained to treat as life-threatening. That belief, the defense said, explained why Thao radioed for paramedics to respond urgently (upgrading the call to “Code 3” with lights and sirens) and activated his squad car’s emergency lights to guide the ambulance.14ABC News. Judge Poised to Render Verdict on Former Officer
Paule emphasized that Thao never physically touched Floyd and argued that because Thao was focused on the crowd rather than the restraint, he reasonably assumed Floyd still had a pulse since the other officers were not performing CPR.15Newsweek. Attorney for Cop in George Floyd Trial Says His Death Wasn’t a Crime Thao testified at his federal trial that he was relying on his colleagues to attend to Floyd’s medical needs while he managed about 15 bystanders and traffic.16NBC News. Fate of Last Officer Charged in Floyd Murder Lies With Judge The defense also said Thao had proposed using a hobble to restrain Floyd more safely, but that Chauvin rejected the idea. Neither court found these arguments persuasive enough to overcome the evidence against him.
Supreme Court Appeal
After exhausting his options in the lower courts, Thao petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review his federal conviction. He argued that prosecutors had failed to prove his actions were “willful” and that prosecutorial misconduct had deprived him of a fair trial. On January 8, 2024, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case without comment, leaving his federal conviction in place.17MPR News. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Ex-Officer Tou Thao
Release and Supervision
Thao was released from a federal facility in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 3, 2025.18Fox 9. Former Minneapolis Officer Convicted in George Floyd’s Murder Released From Prison19Star Tribune. Fired Minneapolis Officer Tou Thao to Leave Prison20CBS News Minnesota. Tou Thao Scheduled Prison Release
Where the Other Officers Stand
Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in state court in 2021 and sentenced to 22 and a half years. He later pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges and received a 21-year federal sentence served concurrently.21NPR. Derek Chauvin Stabbed in Prison Chauvin is expected to remain incarcerated until approximately 2038.22MPR News. Former Officer J. Alexander Kueng Set for Release From Prison
Thomas Lane, who held Floyd’s legs during the restraint, received a 30-month federal sentence and a three-year state sentence after pleading guilty. He was released from prison in August 2024.22MPR News. Former Officer J. Alexander Kueng Set for Release From Prison J. Alexander Kueng, who knelt on Floyd’s back, received a 36-month federal sentence and a three-and-a-half-year state sentence. He was released from federal prison on January 15, 2025, and is serving supervised release. In August 2025, Judge Magnuson denied Kueng’s request to end his supervision early, calling it premature.23Spokesman-Review. Federal Judge Denies Early Probation Release for Ex-Officer