Posted on by Randy Slovacek

Former Cop Gets 2.5 Years In Prison For Death Of George Floyd

Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane
Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane (mugshot)

Family members of George Floyd say they’re disappointed and angry after a federal judge sentenced a former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane to just  2 1/2 years in prison for his part in the death of George Floyd.

That’s after the judge described Lane’s participation as “a very serious offense in which a life was lost.”

From AP News:

Judge Paul Magnuson’s sentence was just slightly more than the 27 months that Lane’s attorney had requested, while prosecutors had asked for at least 5 1/4 years in prison — the low end of federal guidelines for the charge Lane was convicted on earlier this year.

He said Lane, who faces sentencing in September on state charges in Floyd’s killing, will remain free on bond until he must turn himself in Oct. 4.

Lane, who is white, held Floyd’s legs as Officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd’s neck with his knee for nearly 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020. Bystander video of Floyd, who was Black, pleading that he could not breathe sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the world in a reckoning over racial injustice over policing.

The other two officers who were involved in the incident and convicted for their actions, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao,  will be sentenced at a later date.

During their trial in February, all three officers attempted to deflect responsibility for Floyd’s death saying Derek Chauvin, who knelt of Floyd’s neck for some 9 minutes, was the senior officer in charge and they were only following his orders.

All three were found guilty in February of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.

Riots broke out across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands for four white cops.