At the end of the prosecution’s case on February 14, Attorneys for all three officers immediately moved to have charges dismissed, but Judge Magnuson denied their motions from the bench, though he said he would consider written briefs on the subject.
Then two of the three defendants —J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thau–said they intend to testify in their defense. The other defendant—Thomas Lane—at the start of the trial through his attorney said he also so intended, but on February 14, his attorney said Lane wanted to think about it overnight.[1]
Here then is a summary of the testimony of the first defendant, Tou Thao.
Tou Thao[2]
Thao said he first encountered police when he was 7 or 8 years old and his father beat him and a younger brother with an extension cord to break up their fight and when their mother intervened, the father beat her with the cord and retrieved a gun and threatened to kill them all. The three of them then fled to an aunt’s nearby house and called 911. When the police arrived, he accompanied them to the family home and unlocked the door so the police could arrest his father.
Years later after he flunked out of Anoka-Ramsey Community College and was working at Cub Foods, he decided to pursue his childhood interest in becoming a police officer. He is married with three young children.
Thao testified that in his 2009 police training, pinning a suspect on the ground with a knee was presented as an appropriate technique in certain situations. Thao provided these photos from his training: (a) two recruits using their knees in a “two-person prone handcuffing drill” with a person face-down on the ground; (b) two officers holding two “proned-out” (on their stomachs) people, one is handcuffed while the other is being handcuffed; (c) Thao and another classmate with an actor-suspect prone, hands behind his back, and Thao said the two classmates both were using their knees to restrain the “suspect;” (d) recruits marching in formation with sticks for riot control; (e) cops practicing with gas masks while being sprayed with tear gas; (f) trainees in Phalanx formation (V-shape). They also had cadence running when instructor would say something and the recruits would respond in chorus. Thao says he was never told it was improper to use knees to restrain except wrapping their legs around a suspect’s neck was prohibited.
After this training he was laid off and was unemployed before he was hired as a security guard at Fairview Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis for almost a year before he was re-hired by MPD. There he saw notations in hospital records for excited delirium. Sometimes a doctor or nurse asked him to restrain a patient.
On May 25, 2020, while eating dinner with his partner Derek Chauvin they were called to respond to an out-of-sector forgery call. It was a “Priority 1 call—get there fast, suspect still on scene.” While going there in a squad car with Chauvin, they were told over the phone or radio that there was a struggle with the suspect (Floyd) so they activated their car’s lights and siren, but after being told the scene was OK, they turned them off. Dispatch called them off the call, but they continued to Cup Foods because it had a reputation of being hostile to police as a well-known Bloods gang hideout.
Thao said when he and Chauvin arrived, the other officers were struggling with Floyd to put him in a squad car and for Thao it was obvious Floyd “was under the influence of some kind of drugs” and in a state of “excited delirium.” Although Thao heard Floyd saying, “I can’t breathe,” he could not see anything that would have interfered with his breathing.
While at the scene, Thao pulled out of his squad car a hobble device to help restrain Floyd, but the officers decided not to use it because it would have complicated the work of the ambulance crew on their way there. Thao also called Dispatch to speed up the EMS response because he knew it was a matter of “life or death.”
Thao said he had “no idea” something serious had happened to Floyd until Minneapolis firefighters arrived on the scene after Floyd had been taken away in an ambulance. Until then, he testified, he had no idea something serious had happened to Floyd. In all of this, Thao never touched Floyd.
Under cross examination, Thao admitted that Floyd appeared unconscious at the scene, that officers have a duty to intervene when colleagues break the law and delaying CPR for even a minute can greatly diminish a person’s chances of survival. He also said “it was a possibility” that when he was looking down at Floyd on the pavement, he knew what was going on. Thao testified that he was taught that it sometimes was OK to use neck restraints to help handcuff someone. But Thao agreed that using a knee to get someone under control is different from using it to restrain someone who’s already handcuffed — and that the neck should be avoided once someone is under control. Asked if what Chauvin was doing was a trained neck restraint, Thao replied, “I don’t believe so.”
Thao said he took a position on the street to serve as a “human traffic cone” to keep human traffic away from the other officers. He heard onlookers becoming more anxious about Floyd’s condition and calling on them to check his pulse. He, however, did not see any of the other officers roll Floyd over and perform CPR and presumed that meant Floyd was breathing and not in cardiac arrest. Thao also explained his body cam video at the scene.
At four minutes into restraint, Thao admits Floyd’s pleas were getting weaker. But, he says, that is a sign that the restraint was working. If Floyd had excited delirium, he needs to be kept on the ground. During the fifth minute, he admits no bystanders have stepped off the curb or taken steps toward him, but we’re trained not to underestimate a crowd. He refuses to admit that he could check on Floyd’s status. He did not tell his partners what bystanders were saying. Nor did he tell them that Floyd had “stopped speaking, went unconscious and that [he] had gotten requests from the crowd to check his pulse.”
In his prior interview by the MBCA, Thao said, “I could tell the officers on the ground were getting tired. Everyone’s breathing hard.”
Seng Yang.
Thao’s wife, Seng Yang testified briefly that her husband was law-abiding.
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[1] Olson & Xiong, At least two ex-officers plan to testify in federal civil rights trial as defense prepares to present its case, StarTribune (Feb. 14, 2022); Forliti & Karnowski, Prosecution rests in 3 cops’ trial in George Floyd killing. AP News (Feb. 14, 2022); Bailey, Prosecution’s case against former officers charged in George Floyd’s death ends with teenage witness, Wash. Post (Feb. 14, 2022);
[2] Vera & Kirkos, First of the officers involved in George Floyd’s death testifies during federal civil rights trial, CNN.com (Feb. 15, 2022); Xiong & Olson, Ex-officer Tou Thao takes the stand in civil rights trial for Floyd death, StarTribune (Feb. 15, 2022); Karnowski & Webber, Officer in George Floyd’s killing testifies about training, AP News (Feb. 15, 2022); Karnowski & Webber, Officer says he assumed fellow cops were caring for Floyd, AP News (Feb. 15, 2022); Barrett, Former Minneapolis Police Officer Takes Stand in Federal Trial Over George Floyd’s Killing, W.S.J. (Feb. 15, 2022); Olson & Mannix, Thao testifies he didn’t convey crowd’s concerns about George Floyd to Chauvin, Kueng takes the stand, StarTribune (Feb. 16, 2022); Karnowski & Webber, 2 officers testify at federal trial in George Floyd killing, AP News (Feb. 16, 2022).
