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Former Minneapolis police officer released from federal prison in George Floyd murder case

1 of 2 | Protesters march through downtown Minneapolis in April 2021 during jury deliberations in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis Police Department officer who was then charged with second-degree manslaughter, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of George Floyd in May 2020. File photo by Jemal Countess/UPI | Licensed photo

Aug. 20 (UPI) – A former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd in 2020 has been released from federal prison, according to news reports.

Thomas Lane, 41, was serving his sentence at a low-security facility in Littleton, Colorado. Authorities had previously announced he would be under supervision for a year after his release, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons officials.

He is the first of the four former Minneapolis police officers involved to serve his prison sentence and be released.

He had completed the portion of his sentence he was serving in federal court in April, but he remained behind bars to serve a state sentence for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, a BOP spokesman told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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

In May of that year, Lane pleaded guilty in Hennepin County to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in connection with Floyd's death and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Floyd, who was black, died during an arrest when Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly ten minutes.

Lane was a fourth-generation officer with the Minneapolis Police Department and was on his fourth day on the job when his career abruptly ended as a result of the incident. Notably, Lane was the only one of the four officers to express concern about Floyd's respiratory distress at the time. He later rode in the ambulance with the unresponsive Floyd while performing CPR in a futile attempt to revive him.

Cellphone video footage shows Lane holding Floyd by his legs while other officers guarded a disapproving crowd. Despite repeated pleas for air, Chauvin did not let up, ultimately causing Floyd's death.

Floyd's killing by police spurred the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked nationwide protests that resulted in the toppling of numerous Civil War relics, Confederate statues and other historical monuments to slavery.

The incident led to an angry mob setting fire to a Minneapolis police station shortly after Floyd's death.

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

J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

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

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