A Case For Convicting Tou Thao

     Tou Thao is among the least-discussed players in the murder of George Floyd, but he is possibly the most unique. While some have tried to argue that he should not be prosecuted for Floyd's torturous death, his history and his actions that day and afterward make it fairly clear that he belongs behind bars just as long as Derek Chauvin does.

     Policing was never really a career for Thao, a Hmong Coon Rapids resident who worked as a grocery store stocker, McDonald's trainer, and medical supply security guard before being hired by the MPD in 2008, fired shortly afterward due to budget cuts, and rehired in 2012.

     Despite his sob story that he wanted to help people because he comes from a low-income community, he has a history of doing the exact opposite that is equally as brutal as Chauvin's. In 2012 and 2017, he was reported for manipulating domestic violence victims into not filing charges so he could avoid writing reports. In 2017, he, alongside several officers, was the subject of a successful civil suit in which a young black man named Lamar Ferguson was beaten to the point that his teeth were irreparably damaged.

     His serial pattern of abuse (six complaints in his first six years) resulted in the department conducting an internal review of Thao, one that was still open when he was fired and arrested for the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. That day, he was Derek Chauvin's partner. He was with Chauvin when they took the call and escalated the situation; he watched the life leave George Floyd's eyes and did nothing.

     He was bailed out by Michael Thao, a Hmong community activist not related to Tou, on July 4th, 2020. He went into hiding with his family and left a few friends to aggressively chase away any reporters who would do anything but attempt to acquit him in the court of public opinion.

     Thao is guilty of accessory to murder with aggravating circumstances, and, under both Minnesota law and the general ideas of common sense and real justice,  he deserves the same verdict and same sentence for his hatred-fueled murder of George Floyd.