Police officer who held George Floyd’s legs sentenced to 3 years in prison

The former Minneapolis police officer who held up George Floyd’s legs in May 2020 was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday on a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death.

Thomas Lane, who is currently in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights during his fatal restraint, appeared at the hearing remotely wearing beige prison clothing. He began his 2.5-year federal sentence at a Bureau of Prisons facility in Colorado late last month.

The former officer did not address the court on Wednesday. Lane received credit for 31 days already served. Prosecutors did not seek restitution as part of the sentence.

Lane was one of three former officers to face state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder related to Floyd’s death.

In June, Lane pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge as part of a plea deal in which state and defense attorneys jointly recommended a three-year sentence to be served concurrently with his federal time, according to the US Attorney’s office. Minnesota General Keith Ellison.

A victim impact statement was read out by prosecutors on Wednesday on behalf of Floyd’s family. “We want everyone here today to know that we will never move forward,” read prosecutor Matthew Frank. “You will always show up for George Floyd, but you will never move on.”

The sentence comes more than two years after former officers Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng were arrested for their actions – or lack thereof – in May 2020, when their colleague Derek Chauvin pressed his knee to his neck and back. Floyd, handcuffed and lying on his stomach, for more than nine minutes.

Lane, a rookie officer on his fourth day on the job, held Floyd’s legs during the arrest, while Kueng restrained his torso and Thao stayed close by and held off a crowd of upset bystanders.

An ambulance finally arrived and rescuers lifted Floyd, who was limp at the time, into the vehicle. Lane joined them in the ambulance and performed CPR on Floyd.

Defense attorney Earl Gray said Lane agreed to plead guilty to the state charge because he would face a mandatory 12-year sentence if convicted of the more serious murder charge. He also noted that Minnesota law allows defendants to be released from custody after serving two-thirds of their sentence.

“My client didn’t want to risk losing the murder case, so he decided to plead guilty to manslaughter with a 3-year sentence, to be released in 2 years, and the murder case dropped,” Gray said in June. “The sentence will be concurrent with his federal sentence and he will serve his sentence in a federal institution. He has a newborn baby and he didn’t want to take the risk of not being a part of the child’s life.”

What happened to the other ex-officers

A harrowing video taken by a bystander showed Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, desperately begging to be allowed to breathe and calling for his mother before he lost consciousness and died.

Outrage over the incident has led to an international protest movement against the way the police treat black citizens. All four officers were fired and charged following Floyd’s death.

The city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to Floyd’s estate after the city council in March 2021 voted to settle a lawsuit with his family.

In federal court earlier this year, Lane testified that he asked Chauvin twice to reposition Floyd while restraining him, but was denied both times.

Lane, Thao and Kueng were convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights during the fatal containment. Thao and Kueng were also found guilty of an additional federal charge earlier this year for failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. Thao and Kueng were sentenced to 3.5 years and 3 years in federal prison, respectively.

Thao and Kueng still face a state trial scheduled for late October on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. They pleaded not guilty.

Chauvin was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for murder in Floyd’s death in state court last year. As part of a plea deal, Chauvin pleaded guilty in December to federal civil rights charges related to Floyd’s death and the containment of a teenager in a separate incident.