Ex-Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd murder released from federal prison

Aug. 20 (UPI) -- An ex-Minneapolis police officer who was convicted in the 2020 killing of George Floyd has been released from federal prison, according to news reports.

Thomas Lane, 41, served his time at a low-security facility in Littleton, Colo., and officials previously had said he would go into supervision for a year after being released, according to officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

He is the first of four ex-Minneapolis officers in the incident to finish his sentence and be released.

The federal portion of his prison time was completed in April but he stayed behind bars to satisfy a state sentence for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, a BOP spokesperson told Star Tribune in Minnesota.

Lane, who appeared on scene with three other Minneapolis officers at the time of Floyd's arrest and killing, already was serving a 30-month sentence in Colorado after he was convicted in July 2022 of violating Floyd's civil rights. That conviction came for when former officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd on May 25, 2020, in south Minneapolis.

In May that year, Lane pleaded guilty in Hennepin County to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death and given his 2.5 year sentence.

Floyd, who was Black, died during an arrest when Chauvin knelt on the back of his neck for almost 10 minutes.

Lane was a fourth generation Minneapolis PD officer on his fourth day in the job when his career came to a screeching halt as a result of the incident. Notably, Lane was the only officer of the four to express any concern at the time over Floyd's inability to breathe, later riding in the ambulance with an unresponsive Floyd while administering chest compressions in a futile attempt to revive him.

Cellphone video footage shows that Lane held Floyd down by his legs while other officers stood watch over a disapproving crowd. Despite repeated pleas for air, Chauvin did not let up which ultimately caused Floyd's death.

Floyd's killing at the hands of law enforcement galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked fierce nationwide protests that toppled numerous Civil War relics, Confederate statues and other historical monuments to slavery.

The incident then lead an angry crowd not long after Floyd's death to set fire to a Minneapolis police precinct.

Chauvin was sentenced to more than 20 years last year after a jury convicted him of murder and manslaughter. He later pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating Floyd's civil rights and is due to be released in 2038.

J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving a 3.5 year sentence.

Tou Thao, convicted of second-degree aiding and abetting manslaughter, is serving a nearly five-year sentence.