Ex-cop Lane Gets 2 1/2 Years for Violating Floyd’s Rights

Thomas Lane

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A judge has sentenced former Minneapolis police Officer Thomas Lane to 2 1/2 years in prison on a federal civil rights charge for his role in the restraint that killed George Floyd.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Lane on Thursday for his conviction of depriving Floyd of medical care as he lay dying under Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee in May 2020. The sentence was well below what prosecutors and Floyd’s family sought, and sparked anger from Floyd’s family members.

The killing of Floyd, who was Black, launched a national reckoning on race. Lane, who is white, didn’t speak at the hearing.

Magnuson says Lane, who faces sentencing in September on a state charge in Floyd’s killing, will remain free on bond but must turn himself in Oct. 4.