Judge find fourth police officer involved in George Floyd's arrest "guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter"

Tou Thao, the fourth policeman involved in the arrest that resulted in George Floyd's death, was found guilty of aiding and abetting a second-degree manslaughter. In the verdict, the judge considers it proven that the former agent, who waived his right to a jury trial, "actively encouraged his three colleagues’ dangerous prone restraint of Floyd" and "he held back the concerned bystanders and even prevented an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter from rendering the medical aid Floyd so desperately needed."

"Conscious decision to actively participate in Floyd's death"

Pending sentencing, scheduled for August, this verdict brings to an end the series of federal and state trials faced by the four police officers involved in the event three years ago. Their doom, however, began the day after Floyd's death, when they were fired. Thao himself is serving a three-and-a-half year federal court sentence for failing to provide medical aid to the deceased during the operation and for failing to stop Officer Derek Chauvin.

For Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, "Thao made a conscious decision to actively participate in Floyd's death." The verdict states that the former agent "Like the bystanders, Thao could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away as the restraint continued." In addition, he insisted that his work holding the spectators was key to Floyd's eventual death.

Floyd's family, "grateful" for the sentence

The deceased's family's legal team, led by Ben Crump, issued a statement stressing that the family members were "grateful for another measure of accountability for his death. Nearly three years after George was murdered, the family and the Minneapolis community continue to heal as the criminal justice system prevails.

For his part, Thao's lawyer, Robert Paule, argued that his client thought Floyd was suffering from delirium as a result of the cocktail of drugs he had consumed. "Whether or not this medical phenomenon is real, Thao was taught that people in these highly agitated states are extremely dangerous to themselves and others, unless they are restrained until they are sedated," the attorney wrote. In his closing argument, counsel stressed that "every one" of the ex-cop's actions that day was based on training received from the Minneapolis Police Department.

BLM and changes in police action protocols

The death of George Floyd occured during his arrest for trying to pay for a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit bill. When the officers appeared, Floyd showed an aggressive attitude, so the police officers proceeded to immobilize him. Floyd's death sparked a wave of violent riots that reignited the Black Lives Matter movement and changes in police department codes across the country.