Former Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao snapped during testimony on Wednesday when the prosecutor questioned why he didn’t try to stop Derek Chauvin during the murder of George Floyd.
Assistant US Attorney LeeAnn Bell pressed Mr Thao under cross-examination about why he didn’t tell Chauvin to get off Mr Floyd as he knelt on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds, while the Black man begged for air saying “I can’t breathe”.
“I think I would trust a 19-year veteran to figure it out,” Mr Thao fired back.
Mr Thao, a veteran officer of eight years, was the first of the three former officers to take the stand in their federal civil rights trial on Tuesday morning.
J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Mr Thao are all accused of violating Mr Floyd’s civil rights during his murder on Memorial Day 2020.
All three are charged with one count of depriving Mr Floyd of his civil rights by failing to provide him with medical care.
Mr Thao and Mr Kueng are also charged with one count of depriving Mr Floyd of his civil rights by failing to intervene to stop Chauvin’s unreasonable use of force.
Both counts allege the officers’ actions resulted in Mr Floyd’s death.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
White officer Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds during an arrest over a suspected $20 counterfeit bill.
Footage of the encounter sent shockwaves across the globe and led to nationwide and international protests calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality against Black people.
The video shows Mr Kueng was kneeling on Mr Floyd’s back, while Mr Lane held down his legs.
Mr Thao was holding back bystanders and stopping them from intervening.
Under cross-examination from the prosecutor, which was disrupted by repeated objections from the defence, Mr Thao admitted that at one point, he could see that Mr Floyd looked unconscious but did not step in.
The court was shown a still image from a video showing the officer looking at the three other officers restraining Mr Floyd.
Mr Thao was also asked if he had communicated a request from the crowd to check Mr Floyd’s pulse or voiced concerns that the Black man was no longer speaking. He said no.
Earlier, Mr Thao had testified that officers were trained to use their knees to restrain suspects in the police academy.
He also claimed that his role in the fatal encounter was “crowd control” and to be a “human traffic cone”, all the while he assumed his colleagues were “taking care” of Mr Floyd.
He said he never had any physical contact with the Black man.
Mr Kueng was the second former officer to take the stand after Mr Thao on Wednesday.
He told the court that he had only worked three shifts as a fully trained officer prior to that day and didn’t intervene in what Chauvin was doing because he saw his field training officer as a “role model”.
He said that only a “mention” was made of officers’ duty to intervene during his training.
Mr Kueng is expected to take the stand again on Thursday.
Mr Lane has also said he plans to take the stand in his defence.
Chauvin reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors in December, pleading guilty to the civil rights charges in exchange for avoiding joining the trio on trial and being moved to federal prison.
This came after the veteran officer of 19 years was convicted of murder and manslaughter at his state trial in April.
Mr Thao, Mr Kueng and Mr Lane also face trial on state charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. The trial has been delayed multiple times and is now expected to begin in June.
