Former Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao, the last officer convicted following the murder of George Floyd, is set to be released from prison.
Thao, who has been serving a concurrent 57-month state sentence and 3.5-year federal sentence at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, is scheduled for release on Monday, November 3 according to Minnesota Department of Corrections records.
Thao was found guilty in 2023 of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and had previously been convicted on federal civil rights violation charges related to George Floyd's murder.
He was sentenced in Hennepin County in August of 2023 after refusing to take a plea deal that other officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng took, and ended up getting the top of the sentencing guidelines from Judge Peter Cahill, who noted a lack of remorse from Thao.
Thao had testified that he merely served as a “human traffic cone” when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020.
"After three years of reflection. I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgement of some responsibility and less preaching," said Cahill.
The four officers involved in the arrest and eventual death of Floyd in May of 2020 all were sentenced to time behind bars. Both Lane and Kueng have been released which means Derek Chauvin, who faced the stiffest penalty, will remain in prison.
Chauvin is seen on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes which a jury found was responsible for Floyd's death. Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter with Cahill sentencing Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison.