Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane was sentenced this Thursday (21) to two and a half years in prison for involvement in the murder of African-American George Floyd, who sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
Lane was found guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights in February, choking to death by police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee while lying on the ground in handcuffs. Floyd’s death sparked an unprecedented wave of protests across the country and the world.
Lane, along with former colleagues Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, was found guilty of “deliberate indifference” to Floyd’s medical needs. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
The prosecution sought five years in prison for Lane, but Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced him to 30 months and two years’ probation.
“This is terrible,” said Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s sister, outside the courtroom. “This criminal system must be destroyed and rebuilt,” he said.
Lane, 39, had just joined the police when he arrested his partners Kueng and Floyd after a merchant reported that he was trying to pay them with fake $20 bills.
Chauvin and Thao helped the other agents get Floyd into the vehicle.
In another trial in May, Lane was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter, which sentenced him to three years in prison. This penalty will coincide with this Thursday.
Floyd’s death, captured in a video that went viral by an audience, sparked months of protests against racism and police brutality in the United States and around the world.
source: Noticias
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