The former Minneapolis police officer who prevented bystanders from intervening during George Floyd’s fatal 2020 arrest was sentenced Monday (Aug. 7) to 4 years and 9 months in prison.

Tou Thao, convicted on May 1 in state court for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, showed no remorse for his role in Floyd’s death, the Associated Press reports.

In his defense, Thao described his actions on May 25, 2020, as merely a “human traffic cone” at the sentencing hearing, adding that he never intended for Floyd to get hurt. “I did not commit these crimes,” Thao said, according to the AP. “My conscience is clear. I will not be a Judas nor join a mob in self-preservation or betray my God.”

Thao was one of four officers involved in arresting Floyd. Former officer Derek Chauvin was seen in a viral video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, ignoring Floyd saying he couldn’t breathe. The unarmed Black man was handcuffed and face down on the sidewalk while Thao held back bystanders.

But Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill told Thao that he heard no repentance in his testimony.

“After three years of reflection, I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgment of some responsibility — and less preaching,” said Cahill.

Cahill’s sentence is on the high end of the recommended state guidelines. Those convicted of the same crime as Thao typically receive a 4-year sentence. But Thao turned down a plea deal and agreed to let Cahill decide the case, instead of a jury trial, based on the testimony and evidence from Chauvin’s 2021 murder trial.

In Cahill’s 177-page decision in May, the judge wrote that Thao understood the consequences of Chauvin’s actions during the arrest.

“Thao knew that this prone restraint was extremely dangerous because it can cause asphyxia— the inability to breathe—the exact condition Floyd repeatedly told the officers he was suffering," Cahill wrote in his decision.

“Yet Thao made the conscious decision to aid that dangerous restraint: he actively encouraged the other three officers and assisted their crime by holding back concerned bystanders, declining to render medical aid to Floyd, not instructing any of the other three officers to render medical aid to Floyd, and not permitting any of the bystanders to render medical aid to Floyd, including the off-duty Minneapolis firefighter on the scene trained in CPR.”

Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison on a state charge of second-degree murder in April 2021.

In February, Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and a fourth officer, Thomas Lane, were convicted in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights. Lane was sentenced to 2.5 years, Thao was sentenced to 3.5 years, and Kueng received a 3-year sentence.