Ex-officer Thao convicted of aiding George Floyd’s killing

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge has found a former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Tou Thao was last of the four former officers facing judgment in Floyd’s killing. He rejected a plea agreement last summer. Instead of going to trial, he let Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill decide the case based on written filings by each side and stipulated evidence presented in previous cases. Thao already had been convicted in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights.