George Floyd: Police officer Tou Thao jailed for 57 months for role in killing

A police officer who was involved in the death of George Floyd has been jailed for 57 months.

Tou Thao, a former representative of the force in Minneapolis, was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in May. He testified that he acted as a 'human traffic cone' to hold back bystanders while Derek Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes.

George Floyd's death, which occurred on May 25 in 2020, went on to spark mass protests across the US. It sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, raising awareness to combat issues facing people of colour such as police brutality.

All four of the officers involved in the killing were convicted on federal civil rights charges, as well as state murder for Mr Chauvin. Thomas Lane and J Alexander Keung pleaded guilty to their charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Thao will now serve 57 months - almost five years - after waiving his right to a jury trial, opting for Judge Peter Cahill to come to a verdict, as well as deciding to waive the right to testify and question witnesses of the case.

In a 177-page ruling, Judge Cahill wrote: "There is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao's actions were objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer, when viewed under the totality of the circumstances. His actions were even more unreasonable in light of the fact that he was under a duty to intervene to stop other officers' excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid."