- Ex-Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao testified in his own defense in federal court on Tuesday.
- Thao and two other ex-officers are charged with depriving George Floyd of his civil rights.
- Thao said he didn't realize Floyd was experiencing medical problems when he died in police custody.
Tou Thao testified that he wasn't aware that there was anything significantly medically wrong with George Floyd until after firefighters arrived to perform life-saving measures on him, according to courtroom reports.
Thao and two former Minneapolis police officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, are currently standing trial in federal court in Minnesota, on allegations of depriving Foyd of his rights under color of law.
Floyd died in May 2020, after former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in prison after a state jury convicted him on charges of unintentional murder and manslaughter in April.
The government alleged in an indictment that ex-officers Thao, Lane, and Kueng failed to provide medical aid to Floyd. Thao and Kueng also face charges for failing to intervene in Chauvin's use of excessive force against Floyd.
Thao took the stand in his own defense on Tuesday and testified that he didn't know that Floyd was having a significant medical emergency until after the fire department arrived and began performing life-saving measures on him, KMSP reporter Rob Olson reported from the courtroom. According to KMSP, Thao said that he was only in the area of Floyd's arrest for around 10 minutes and his primary role was to provide security for the other officers there.
On Tuesday, Thao testified that he responded to the Cup Foods in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, following a report of a suspect trying to pass a counterfeit bill who was possibly under the influence, The Star Tribune's Rochelle Olson reported. According to The Tribune, Thao testified that dispatch called him off of the report after other officers at the scene indicated that the situation was under control but Thao decided to go anyway because Cup Foods is a "known" gang hangout spot.
"From my experience Cup Foods is hostile to police," Thao said according to The Tribune. "It's a well-known Bloods gang hangout."
Thao testified that it was "obvious" that Floyd was "under the influence of some type of drugs" when he arrived, according to The Tribune, and he suggested that the officers "hog-tie" him with a hobble, a strap that police use to restrain people's hands and feet.
Thao says police were trained to kneel on suspects
Thao testified that he found a hobble in Lane's car, which he handed to Chauvin, but the officers decided not to use it because it would have been difficult for paramedics to untie Floyd, who would have been "tied up like a Christmas present" when they arrived, The Tribune reported.
Thao's defense attorney, Robert Paule, displayed photos in court of training exercises that Thao took part in at the Minneapolis Police Academy in 2009, according to KARE. According to KARE, several photos shown in court showed instructors and police recruits kneeling on "actors" during handcuffing training exercises. One photo showed a recruit kneeling on an actor's neck, KARE reported.
According to KARE, Thao testified that he was trained to kneel on suspects to restrain them. According to the Star Tribune, Thao also testified that he was never trained that frequent use of knees to restrain suspects is improper.
Thao testified that he saw Chauvin using his knee to restrain Floyd on Floyd's neck, according to KARE. KARE reported that Thao said he thought Chauvin's use of his knee on Floyd's neck was "not uncommon," but he does not personally use the technique because he is short and would lose balance.
Assistant US Attorney LeeAnn Bell asked Thao on cross-examination if he understood that using force against someone is only appropriate if the force is "reasonable under the circumstances," which he said he did, according to The Tribune. The Tribune reported that Bell asked Thao if he would intervene and stop a police officer he saw committing a crime, to which he replied, "sure."