Thomas Lane sentenced to 2.5 years for violating George Floyd’s civil rights

Former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty in February of depriving the 46-year-old Black man of his civil rights by failing to provide him with medical care during his fatal arrest

Disgraced former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights during his Memorial Day 2020 murder.

Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Lane to 30 months in federal prison on Thursday, five months after he was convicted of one count of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to provide him with medical care as he lay dying under Derek Chauvin’s knee.

Lane, 38, will also be required to pay a mandatory restitution while in prison and will be under supervision for two years after his release. He cannot own any firearms and cannot have any contact with Floyd’s family.

Floyd’s brother condemned the lenient sentence, branding it “insulting” after he left the court.

The sentence is drastically lower than the 21-year sentence given to Chauvin earlier this month for the same civil rights violation – and also far lower than the sentence requested by both prosecutors and the victim’s family.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Magnuson said that Lane played a “minimal role” in Floyd’s fatal arrest over a $20 counterfeit bill and called the shamed officer a person of “outstanding character”.

He said that he had received 145 letters in support of Lane – a number that he had never encountered in a case before.

However, addressing Lane directly, he told him that he had committed “a very serious offense in which a life was lost”.

“The fact that you did not get up and remove Mr Chauvin when Mr Floyd became unconscious is a violation of the law,” he said.

Federal prosecutors had asked the judge for a harsher sentence of between 5.25 years and 6.5 years, saying that Lane’s lack of experience on the job was not an excuse for his failure to provide medical care to the 46-year-old Black man.

“More training would not have made the difference. He just failed to act,” the prosecutor said.

Lane’s defence attorney Earl Gray had requested just 2.25 years.

Thomas Lane pictured in a mugshot (AP)

Before the sentencing, Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd delivered an emotional victim impact statement to the court where he begged the judge to hold the offficer “accountable” for his part in his brother’s death and called on him to “hand down the highest level of punishment”.

“I’m asking, no I’m begging, for you to hold the officers accountable,” he said.

Floyd’s girlfriend Courteney Ross spoke directly to Lane as she gave her own victim impact statement, telling him that she doesn’t believe he is a “bad guy” but that he is part of a system that perpetuates hate.

“Mr Lane, I don’t think you’re a bad guy,” she said, urging him to be part of driving the change when he is free from prison.

“Neither you or I started it, but we must be part of those who stop it”.

Lane declined to make a statement to the court.

He has been ordered to surrender to US Marshals on 4 October.

Lane stood trial on federal civil rights charges back in February alongside his fellow former officers Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng.

All three were convicted of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to provide him with medical care.

Thao and Kueng were also convicted of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to intervene to stop Chauvin’s unreasonable use of force.

The verdict came after a month-long trial where jurors heard how the three officers “chose to do nothing” to try to stop Chauvin or to try to save the life of the Black man as he lay handcuffed face down pressed into the road.

Kueng pinned down Mr Floyd’s back, Lane held down his legs and Thao kept a crowd of bystanders back and stopped them intervening.

A mural of George Floyd in downtown Houston, Texas (REUTERS)

Lane was only charged with one count as he was heard on bodycam footage asking the other officers twice if they should turn Floyd over into a different position.

Following his federal conviction, Lane then made the shock decision to reach a plea deal with prosecutors on his state charges over Floyd’s killing.

On 18 May, he pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Under the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder against Lane.

He will be sentenced in state court on 21 September.

Thao and Kueng will be sentenced later on the federal charges. Their state trial has now been delayed until January 2023.