MINNEAPOLIS — A fired Minneapolis police officer charged alongside two former colleagues with violating George Floyd's civil rights during the fatal arrest took the witness stand in his own defense on Tuesday.
Tou Thao, 35, is the first defendant charged in the high-profile federal case to speak publicly about his actions during the 2020 episode that prompted nationwide protests and resulted in the murder conviction of his then-senior officer Derek Chauvin in state court last year.
Thao's attorney Robert Paule, displayed for the jury a photo of Thao taken during training in 2009 at the police academy. It showed him and another cadet pinning a handcuffed actor posing as a suspect to the ground in a prone position. Thao explained that he and the other cadet were using their knees to restrain the suspect.
Officer Nicole Mackenzie, the department’s medical support coordinator, testified she personally instructed Lane and Kueng, both rookie police officers at the time of the episode with Floyd, in a police academy"emergency medical responder" class that covered first aid and ethics in care. She also said records show that Thao took a refresher course covering the same topics.
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