May 25 marks five years since the arrest and death of George Floyd and the riots that followed. Yet much of the truth remains to be told about the George Floyd incident and the aftermath.
As corporate media will try to remind you about “the most infamous racial murder by police in the history of our country,” Alpha News remains committed to reporting the facts.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media are still talking about the viral video “that we all saw”—while ignoring much of the evidence on the police bodycam videos. They also seem stuck on focusing on former officer Derek Chauvin—while still trying to ignore so many other facts and inconvenient truths.
If the past is any indication of the present, the fact that Black officer Alex Kueng and Hmong-American officer Tou Thao were also involved in the incident will likely be little more than a footnote.
However, amid all the rhetoric about race and reconciliation, Alpha News senior reporter Liz Collin shares a conversation with former officer Tou Thao—the former partner of Derek Chauvin.
During the struggle, Thao called for an EMS ambulance—code 3—to get help for Floyd as quickly as possible during the incident on May 25, 2020. It’s an inconvenient fact that many politicians and the media still try to avoid.
Ultimately, Thao was convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to nearly five years in prison. He is scheduled to be released later this year in November. Calling from prison, Thao told Collin about his faith and what he thinks really needs to happen for justice to be restored.
Collin also spoke with Sheng Thao, Tou’s wife, who shared her perspective about life without her husband and how it’s affecting their kids.
Like so many others whose lives have been disrupted and derailed in all of this, Thao and his family do not trust the mainstream media to tell their story.
In a recent conversation with Collin, Thao shared some of his thoughts and perspectives.
Excerpts from Liz Collin’s conversation with former officer Tou Thao
Collin: I appreciate you chatting with us. How are you doing?
Thao: I’m alright. I just take it one day at a time.
Collin: You’ve been convicted of aiding and abetting murder. Some have called this the most infamous racial murder by police in the history of our country. Did race have anything to do with this?
Thao: No. I’ll put it this way. Just to remind people, if it were my knees, or Black officer Alex Kueng’s knees or Chief Arradondo’s knee on George Floyd, it would be different. But for Derek being born white, we’d all still be patrolling the city of Minneapolis.
In the former chief’s statement to the FBI, one of his first reactions was to call community activists, of course allowed the city to burn and go on national TV to throw us all under the bus, which we get stabbed in the back. Well, the chief gets to retire and collect his pension and we lose our careers and retirement. Of course, Katie Blackwell gets promoted to second in command faster than I’ve ever seen in MPD. I’d say, how’s that for equality and perversion of justice? So, I guess in some ways, race just kind of does play a role in this.
Collin: We talked a bit about this before, you explained how you and the other officers were obviously doing the maximal restraint technique, and that Chief Arradondo and Katie Blackwell lied about that.
Thao: Yeah. I mean they lied the entire time. Probably to cover themselves. It’s all pretty much in the transcripts. Blackwell testifies to it. She admitted in our trial, after some prodding, that it was, in fact, trained and it was done by Chief Arradondo.
Collin: Now that a judge has dismissed Blackwell’s defamation lawsuit, do you think that more of the corruption and more of the truth will finally come to light?
Thao: Yeah. I mean, it’s unfortunate, we all have to suffer, the injustice of it, but slowly it’s coming out. Obviously, the mainstream media refuses to cover the truth and continues with whatever narrative and moves on. I’m thankful that there’s other, legitimate media outlets that continues to cover this case. And more and more stuff continues to come out. That only helps our case.
Collin: I had the opportunity to talk to your wife a bit, she talked about your family, how you’re obviously missing your kids. You’ve been away from them for years now. I just can’t even imagine how difficult every day must be for you.
Thao: I’ve missed birthdays, Christmas. I don’t even know how tall they are anymore. Difficult to miss parts of childhood. Never get it back. All because people want to get promotions, publicity and make money.
Collin: You haven’t wanted to have your kids visit you in prison. You don’t want them to have that memory of you?
Thao: I just don’t want them, having that image … that type of trauma.
Collin: Here we are five years later. Is this what justice looks like?
Thao: Absolutely not. What injustice looks like, a perversion of justice … How our country has sunk this low to get votes, push narratives and gain power.
Collin: What would your message be to the people who hear this, who have the power to do something about it to right this wrong?
Thao: There should be accountability in return for righteousness. Part of that is undoing the wrongs that have been committed. At least for the past four years. Hold corrupt prosecutors and activist judges accountable. It brings the fear of God back to the justice system what the original founding fathers meant it to be. I feel like our country is now going in the right direction. A lot of this, things that have been done the last four years have been starting to be undone. Obviously, there’s still some more work. I trust God that, in his hand, that he’ll put the right people in the right places. I look forward to coming home soon.
