Cop who held back crowd as George Floyd died is convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter

Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao has been found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for his role in keeping bystanders back as former officer Derek Chauvin restrained George Floyd by using his knee in his neck, CNN reported.

Minnesota Judge Peter Cahill wrote that Thao “actively encouraged his three colleagues’ dangerous prone restraint of Floyd,” which ran contrary to his training.

“Like the bystanders, Thao could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away as the restraint continued,” Cahill wrote in the verdict. “Yet Thao made a conscious decision to actively participate in Floyd’s death: he held back the concerned bystanders and even prevented an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter from rendering the medical aid Floyd so desperately needed.”

As CNN points out, the verdict marks the end of a series of state and federal trials for the four former officers involved in Floyd’s death, which was captured on video.

“The conviction of Tou Thao is historic and the right outcome,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the lead prosecutor of Floyd’s murder, said in a statement. “It brings one more measure of accountability in the tragic death of George Floyd. Accountability is not justice, but it is a step on the road to justice.”

Read more at CNN.