Ex-cop who held Floyd’s legs gets 2½ years

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge sentenced former Minneapolis police Officer Thomas Lane to 2½ years in prison Thursday for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, calling Lane’s role in the restraint that killed Floyd “a very serious offense in which a life was lost” but handing down a sentence well below what prosecutors and Floyd’s family sought.

Judge Paul Magnuson’s sentence was just slightly more than the 27 months Lane’s attorney had requested, while prosecutors had asked for at least 5¼ 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 9½ 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.

Two other officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, were also convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights and will be sentenced later.

Floyd family members had asked Magnuson to give Lane the stiffest sentence possible, with brother Philonise Floyd rejecting the idea that Lane deserved any mercy for asking his colleagues twice if George Floyd should be shifted from his stomach to his side.

“Officer Lane did not intervene in one way or another,” he said.

Prosecutor Manda Sertich had also argued for a higher sentence, saying that Lane “chose not to act” when he could have saved a life.

“There has to be a line where blindly following a senior officer’s lead, even for a rookie officer, is not acceptable,“she said.

Magnuson told Lane the “fact that you did not get up and remove Mr. Chauvin when Mr. Floyd became unconscious is a violation of the law.” But he also held up 145 letters he said he had received supporting Lane, saying he had never received so many on behalf of a defendant. And he faulted the Minneapolis Police Department for sending Lane with another rookie officer on the call that ended in Floyd’s death.

In sentencing Chauvin earlier this month on civil rights charges in Floyd’s killing, Magnuson appeared to suggest that he bore the most blame in the case, telling Chauvin: “You absolutely destroyed the lives of three young officers by taking command of the scene.”

Lane did not speak at Thursday’s sentencing and neither he nor his attorney, Earl Gray, commented to reporters afterward. Prosecutors did not immediately comment afterward, but Philonise Floyd called the sentence “insulting” and said he didn’t understand why Lane — whom he called “an accessory to murder” — didn’t get the toughest possible sentence.

“To me, I think this whole criminal system needs to be torn down and rebuilt,” he said.

Lane’s attorney had argued that he twice asked his colleagues if Floyd should be turned on his side as officers restrained him face down and in handcuffs, as he said that he couldn’t breathe and eventually grew still.

Magnuson also said he would recommend Lane serve his sentence at the federal prison in Duluth, a minimum-security facility about 2½ hours from the Minneapolis area. The facility is classified as a “camp” and has no fence and has dormitory-style housing rather than cells.