Minneapolis, MN
Ex-Minneapolis officer faces sentencing on a state charge for his role in George Floyd’s killing
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The last former Minneapolis police officer to face sentencing in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd will learn Monday whether he will spend additional time in prison.
Tou Thao has testified he merely served as a “human traffic cone” when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020.
A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd’s killing touched off protests worldwide and forced a national reckoning of police brutality and racism.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill found Thao guilty in May of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In his 177-page ruling, Cahill said Thao’s actions separated Chauvin and two other former officers from the crowd, including a an emergency medical technician, allowing his colleagues to continue restraining Floyd and preventing bystanders from providing medical aid.
“There is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao’s actions were objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer, when viewed under the totality of the circumstances,” Cahill wrote.
He concluded: “Thao’s actions were even more unreasonable in light of the fact that he was under a duty to intervene to stop the other officers’ excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid.”
Thao rejected a plea bargain on the state charge, saying “it would be lying” to plead guilty when he didn’t think he was in the wrong. He instead agreed to let Cahill decide the case based on evidence from Chauvin’s 2021 murder trial and the federal civil rights trial in 2022 of Thao and former Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander.
That trial in federal court ended in convictions for all three. Chauvin pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges instead of going to trial a second time, while Lane and Kueng pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Minnesota guidelines recommend a four-year sentence on the manslaughter count, which Thao would serve at the same time as his 3 1/2-year sentence for his federal civil rights conviction, which an appeals court upheld on Friday. But Cahill has some latitude and could hand down a sentence from 41 to 57 months.
Lane and Kueng received 3 and 3 1/2-year state sentences respectively, which they are serving concurrently with their federal sentences of 2 1/2 years and 3 years. Thao is Hmong American, while Kueng is Black and Lane is white.
Minnesota inmates generally serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and one-third on parole. There is no parole in the federal system but inmates can shave time off their sentences with good behavior.
Minneapolis, MN
Man charged in 2013 fatal shooting at Minneapolis gas station upon return to U.S.
MINNEAPOLIS — A man who allegedly fled the country after fatally shooting a man in October of 2013 now faces charges.
The shooting happened shortly before midnight on Oct. 30, 2013, at a gas station at the intersection of Washington Avenue South and 12th Avenue South.
The 26-year-old victim was found in the driver’s seat of a car with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Nearby, officers found a torn piece of cloth that appeared to be from a letterman-style jacket, charges say.
Documents say that the victim had been on the phone with a woman eight minutes before the shooting. The woman told officers that she had driven to the gas station with her friend and another man in order to buy weed from the victim. She was arrested and made several calls from jail allegedly indicating that she was covering for the shooter, charges state.
Surveillance video from the scene showed 30-year-old Suleiman Ali getting out of the woman’s car and going into the gas station before the shooting. He was wearing a letterman-style jacket, documents state.
When police were investigating the case in 2013, they learned that Ali had fled the state, likely to Somalia.
The case stayed cold until mid-2022, when another woman called police saying that on the day of the shooting, Ali had called her and asked for money to help him leave the country. Ali allegedly admitted to shooting the victim.
In March of 2024, investigators learned Ali was back in the United States, but living outside of Minnesota. Investigators obtained a search warrant for his DNA, and had his out-of-state probation officer execute it.
Ali is currently in custody at the Hennepin County Jail. He is charged with second-degree murder.
Minneapolis, MN
After decade on the run, man charged in 2013 Minneapolis fatal shooting
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Minneapolis, MN
16-year-old boy injured in north Minneapolis drive-by shooting, police say
MINNEAPOLIS — Police in Minneapolis are investigating after a 16-year-old boy was injured in a drive-by shooting on the northside.
According to police, officers from the 4th Precinct responded at around 8:40 p.m. Friday to the shooting on the 1800 block of Irving Avenue North.
When they arrived, officers found the teenager suffering from a gunshot wound that was not considered life-threatening. He was taken to North Memorial Medical Center for treatment.
Officers then secured the scene, searched the area and collected evidence.
Police say preliminary information, which is subject to change, indicates the victim was standing in an alley when shots were fired from a vehicle.
No arrests have been announced.
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