Defense: Ex-officer at Floyd arrest only did crowd control

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An attorney for one of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd argues his client only handled crowd control.

Defense attorney Robert Paule filed a memo Wednesday supporting his earlier motion to dismiss charges against Tou Thao for lack of probable cause. The memo says Thao had his back to what was going on as Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee to the neck of Floyd, a handcuffed Black man.

The memo also says Thao offered a hobble restraint to the other three officers, but they refused it. The memo also argues Chauvin was using a non-deadly, Minneapolis Police Department-approved neck restraint.