An ex-officer from the Minneapolis Police Department, who was involved in the murder of George Floyd in 2020, has been given a sentence of 57 months in jail or about five years.
Tou Thao, a former police officer, said that while Derek Chauvin had been kneeling on George Floyd's neck for about 10 minutes, he used him as a "human traffic cone" to keep onlookers at bay.
Following the incident, Thao was convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter by a Minnesota judge in May.
George Floyd's murder by police officers on 25 May 2020 sparked mass protests across the US.
In addition to the state murder charge against Chauvin, all four of the former police officers involved in the incident were found guilty on federal civil rights charges. Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng, two former officers, admitted to helping to commit second-degree manslaughter, the BBC reported.
Moreover, Thao will serve 57 months concurrently while serving three and a half year term for his involvement in a civil rights case.
In the manslaughter case, the former cop had renounced his right to a jury trial and chosen to have Judge Peter Cahill render the decision. He also gave up his right to testify and interview witnesses.
Furthermore, Judge Cahill stated in a 177-page decision in May that Thao's actions prohibited a qualified emergency medic from being able to assist Floyd including concealing Chauvin and the two other policemen from the crowd.
"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," the judge wrote.
Judge Cahill added that Thao's 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".