World News: Minneapolis ex-police officer says he did not think George Floyd was dying – Gulf Digital News

World News: Minneapolis ex-police officer says he did not think George Floyd was dying – Gulf Digital News

ST PAUL - Tou Thao, one of three former Minneapolis police officers on trial for violating George Floyd's civil rights, told a jury on Tuesday he did not realize Floyd was dying as an officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Testifying in his own defense at a federal trial that hinges on when police should intervene in colleagues' misconduct, Thao said he assumed Floyd's heart must still be beating because he never saw the other officers try to revive the 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, as their training demanded.

Thao, 36, is accused with J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane of willfully violating Floyd's right to receive medical care as he lay dying, unable to properly breathe facedown beneath the knee of their former colleague, Derek Chauvin. Thao and Keung face a second count of depriving Floyd of his rights in their roles as government officials by failing to stop Chauvin's use of excessive force.

Cellphone video of the arrest on May 25, 2020, led to protests against racism and police brutality around the world. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of Floyd's murder last year at a separate state trial.

Thao took the stand in U.S. District Court in