Thao, Keung and Lane: All you need to know of the three other Minneapolis cops involved in George Floyd's death
Derek Chauvin is now a name that is almost instantly recognizable, even internationally. After all, he is the Minneapolis police officer whose actions have led to what many are calling one of the largest civil rights moments in the history of the planet.
But what of the three other officers with him?
On May 25, Memorial Day, while the rest of the nation honored and mourned the military personnel who have died while serving, Chauvin was busy responding to reports of a "forgery in progress" at a location in south Minneapolis.
At the scene, he confronted George Floyd, a 46-year-old truck driver who allegedly matched the description of the suspect, dragged him out of his car, and then knelt on his neck for close to nine minutes as he gasped for breath and pleaded for his mother.
Chauvin was unmoved despite the pleas of the bystanders witnessing the horror unfold in front of them. After eight minutes and 46 seconds, he relented, but it was already too late. Floyd had lost consciousness and become unresponsive. A few hours later, he was declared dead.
The disturbing incident was recorded by Darnella Frazier and uploaded on social media, where it garnered hundreds of millions of views and inspired citizens in all 50 states, as well as 18 different countries to take to the streets in protest against police brutality and racial inequality.
The collective outpouring of outrage eventually resulted in authorities arresting Chauvin on Friday, May 29, and charging him with third-degree murder, as well as manslaughter in connection to Floyd's death. Many, however, were irked that no action was taken against three other officers who were at the scene but did nothing as the 46-year-old struggled for his life.
J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Kiernan Lane, and Tou Thao were all fired from their positions after their role in Floyd's death came to light. The former two had assisted Chauvin in restricting Floyd while the latter stood by and watched, even instructing bystanders to maintain their distance.
As protests and rioting continued across the country, prosecutors made the announcement that Floyd's family had been waiting for — they said they would be charging Keung, Lane, and Thao in Floyd's death, and that they had upgraded Chauvin's charges to second-degree murder.
All three were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, as well as aiding and abetting manslaughter. They are charges that carry the same maximum punishment as the underlying offense, up to 40 years in prison.
While their names may not ring a bell to most, at least one of them has a long history of complaints against him.
Amongst the three, Tou Thao is likely the one most have come across on social media, but for all the wrong reasons. A rumor circulating on the interwebs suggested he was the brother of Kellie Chauvin, the wife of his fellow officer who filed for divorce after Floyd's death. That rumor is categorically false.
What is known about Thao, however, is that he has had six separate unspecified police conduct complaints filed against him. Five were closed without discipline, according to the Star Tribune, but one was still open at the time of his firing.
Thao, 34, along with another officer, was also the subject of a 2017 police brutality lawsuit. One Lamar Ferguson had alleged in 2014 that the two officers told him they were serving a warrant for his arrest, then beat him, breaking his teeth, while he was handcuffed. Court records show the city of Minneapolis paid Ferguson $25,000 to settle the case.
After the backlash against him following Floyd's death, he had left Minnesota, with his attorney Robert Paule stating his client was "safely elsewhere." He has since returned to the state and surrendered.
Lane, 37, had left Minneapolis and did not tell anyone where he was going before eventually giving himself up to authorities. His family has insisted they are "devastated" and feel "terrible" over the incident and that the man millions watched on video "isn't him."
One relative described him as a "compassionate and amusing and insightful" person who had tied the knot in 2018 and, after getting his license last August, was excited in continuing his family's legacy in law enforcement — his grandfather Donald M Mealey was a Minneapolis police detective who died in 2008 at 92, while other relatives have worked for the Minneapolis police as well.
"He doesn’t have a bad bone in his body," the relative insisted. "This is just a terrible event and I feel bad for the lives lost and the Floyd family. Not all cops are bad. [He] is being categorized now and he shouldn’t be."
Kueng, 26, one of the first two officers at the scene who helped get Floyd down, is said to have been staying with family in Minneapolis before his arrest. He, too, had just licensed in August. Neither he nor Kueng has been the subject of any conduct complaints, according to Minneapolis police records.
Chauvin, Kueng, Lane, and Thao are all being held on a $1 million bond.