This is the shocking moment Minneapolis officer Tou Thao was seen ignoring pleas for help from bystanders as white cop Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
The video was shared on Sunday morning by Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Floyd’s family.
‘This is beyond disturbing, even harder to watch than the first video,’ Crump warned in the caption of the video.
Crump then wrote: ‘Tou Thao stood guard as Derek Chauvin MURDERED George Floyd … while witnesses of the execution tried to stand up for JUSTICE, tried to save George’s life!
‘The protest of those bystanders, who refused to just stand by and let it happen, has reverberated around the world — fueling our protest against injustice and police brutality!! 8 minutes 46 seconds.’
‘The four ex-officers MUST be convicted of MURDER for this hideous atrocity! They MUST all be held accountable!!’
A post shared by Lindaikejiblog (@lindaikejiblogofficial) on Jun 14, 2020 at 2:49pm PDT
In the video, witnesses can be heard urging Thao to stop Chauvin as they repeatedly shout “check his pulse” and call the police officer a “bum.”
Thao, who can be seen standing on the sidewalk nearby his former colleague Chauvin tries to move people away from the scene by telling them to “Step back on the sidewalk,” as one concerned bystander pointed out that “the man ain’t moved yet, bro, the man continued. ‘He has not moved not one time!’
The man then asked Thao: ‘You’re going to let him kill that man in front of you?’
A woman then yelled: ‘Tell me what his pulse is right now!’
Another woman is heard asking in the background: ‘Did they just f**king kill him?’
As a crowd gathered, others are heard shouting, ‘Get off of his neck!’ and ‘He’s not moving!’
Despite their pleas for help, Thao did nothing to try to get Chauvin off Floyd’s neck.
Paramedics later arrived at the scene and lifted Floyd’s lifeless body off the pavement and onto a stretcher.
Tou Thou, Thomas Kiernan Lane and J Alexander Kueng have all been fired from the police department. They have also been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
The main suspect, Derek Chauvin who knelt on his neck was fired from the Minneapolis Police Department and arrested just days after Floyd’s death. He was initially charged with third-degree murder before that charge was upgraded to second-degree murder.
George Floyd was laid to rest last Tuesday in his hometown in Houston, Texas.
