Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao was sentenced on Monday to 4-3/4 years in prison for aiding and abetting manslaughter in the 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man whose neck was pinned to the ground by another officer’s knee during a botched arrest.
The sentence, meted out by Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, was more than the 4-1/4 years requested by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
“I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgment of some responsibility,” Cahill said before handing down the sentence.
The sentence will run concurrently with the 3-1/2 years Thao previously received on a federal conviction of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Cahill in May found Thao guilty of one count of aiding and abetting manslaughter in the second degree for his role in Floyd’s death. Thao, a nine-year veteran of the police force, was the fourth and final officer sentenced in the killing.