MINNEAPOLIS — With former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao under cross-examination for a second day, a federal prosecutor pressed him on his failure to say anything to his partners about the crowd's concerns about George Floyd falling silent while he was restrained on the street.
Assistant U.S. Attorney LeeAnn Bell asked Thao if he had communicated to his partners that Floyd had "stopped speaking, went unconscious and that you had gotten requests from the crowd to check his pulse?"
Thao responded, "How would I know all those things?"
Bell said, "I'm asking if you communicated about any of that."
Thao responded, "No."
Thao, 36, was on the stand Wednesday morning after being there much of the day Tuesday. Initially he came off as calm and mostly direct in response, but Wednesday the cross-examination was rocky and halting with his defense attorney Robert Paule objecting more often than not to Bell's questions.
He is the first of the three former officers to take the stand in his defense. J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane also are expected to testify before the conclusion of this federal trial, now in its fourth week of testimony. The three face federal civil rights charges for failing to provide aid to Floyd. Thao and Kueng are also charged with failing to intervene on Floyd's behalf.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes while Kueng and Lane helped pin Floyd stomach-down in the street. Floyd's hands were handcuffed behind his back.
Thao testified multiple times that it was important to restrain Floyd until paramedics arrived because Thao said he believed Floyd had taken drugs, was experiencing excited delirium and might revive and become violent.
Chauvin, who was convicted of murder by a jury last year and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison in state court, did not take the stand on his own behalf.
Throughout his testimony, Thao maintained that he was focused on controlling the bystanders at the scene and trusted the officers to take care of Floyd. Multiple times Wednesday morning, he referred to a "19-year veteran" knowing how to care for Floyd. That was a reference to Chauvin, his partner that day.
Bell asked if Thao was in a position to talk to the officers about the restraint on Floyd, who had stopped speaking seconds before Thao told a bystander that someone who was talking could breathe.
Bell said, "You could have called out to your partners from where you were standing."
Thao responded, "It's a possibility."
She asked if he told Chauvin to get off of Floyd at any point.
Thao said, "I did not."
During the more than an hour of continued cross-examination Wednesday, Paule also protested Bell's reactions to his extensive objections, saying she was "using facial expressions to express her own displeasure, which is inappropriate and unprofessional."
Thao broke his public silence for the first time since George Floyd's killing on Tuesday. Under questioning from Paule, Thao testified that he didn't realize Floyd was in medical distress until Minneapolis firefighters arrived on the scene after an ambulance had already taken Floyd away.
Thao kept bystanders at bay as they yelled at the officers to relent and to check Floyd's pulse once he grew unresponsive. Thao characterized his job as "full-time crowd control."
Paule ended his 2-hour, 45-minute questioning of Thao with a pointed question. "At any point did you touch Mr. Floyd?" he asked.
"I did not," Thao said.
Several police body camera and bystander cellphone videos showed that none of the officers performed CPR on Floyd before paramedics arrived. Lane boarded an ambulance with Floyd and began chest compressions at a paramedic's direction.
Before court started Wednesday, Judge Paul Magnuson announced that juror 80 had been excused because he had stomach flu or had eaten improper food. He specifically said the juror didn't have COVID-19.
The juror was an alternate, a retired man who had lived in Hennepin County for 71 years and had an MBA. His dismissal leaves the court with 12 jurors and now four alternates. There were six alternates when the trial started, but another juror was previously dismissed.
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