Closing arguments were presented Tuesday in the trial of former Minneapolis police officers Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.
Thao’s lawyer, Robert Paule, said that his client believed the officers were acting in Floyd’s best interests by holding him until paramedics arrived at the scene. A prosecutor argued that the officers “chose to do nothing” as Floyd, a Black man who died during the incident, begged for air, AP reported.
The three former officers are charged with breaching Floyd’s right to receive medical care during the encounter, during which fellow former officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Kueng and Thao are facing an additional charge of failing to intervene in Chauvin’s actions and stop the killing on May 25, 2020, AP reported. Last April, Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.
The charges hinge on the officers “willfully” depriving Floyd of his rights.
Paule argued Tuesday that Thao’s intentions during the incident should be viewed “within the context of willfulness.” He said that Thao boosted the urgency of calling an ambulance for Floyd, a move that was clearly “not for a bad purpose.”
Paule also argued that Thao believed that Floyd was on drugs and required restraint until the ambulance and paramedics arrived.
While the other officers held Floyd down, Thao was watching bystanders and traffic, according to AP. Paule said that Thao knew from his training that police must perform CPR immediately if they discover someone’s heart has stopped beating, but there wasn’t any reasonable indication during the encounter that Floyd’s pulse had stopped, Reuters reported.
“If Mr. Thao is standing there and the other three officers are monitoring and dealing with Mr. Floyd, and if he doesn’t see them rolling Mr. Floyd over or doing CPR, the logical assumption from their training is that Mr. Floyd must still have a pulse,” Paule said.
Defense attorneys stressed during the trial that there was inadequate training in the Minneapolis Police Department and the defendants were taught to defer to more senior officers like Chauvin, AP reported. But prosecutor Manda Sertich refuted those arguments, saying that Chauvin was “barely talking to them” during the encounter.
“The officers knew George Floyd couldn’t breathe, and was dying,” she said.
Update 2/22/22, 5:31 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
