Thomas Lane is already serving a two and a half year sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. He was also convicted of being an accessory to manslaughter.
Thomas Lane was video-connected to the court in Littleton, Colorado.
(dpa) More than two years after the killing of African American George Floyd in a police operation in the United States, one of the ex-police officers involved has been convicted again.
Thomas Lane pleaded guilty in court under Minnesota law to assisting manslaughter in a particularly serious case and received a three-year prison sentence, as American media reported unanimously on Wednesday.
Lane is already serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence following a federal conviction for violating Floyd’s civil rights. Both sentences could be served at the same time, it said.
Main offender sentenced to over 23 years in prison
The death of African American Floyd on May 25, 2020 in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis triggered demonstrations against racism and police violence in the United States. Videos documented police officers pinning the unarmed man to the ground.
White police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes while Floyd begged him to breathe. His colleagues Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane did not intervene despite Chauvin’s actions. According to the autopsy, Floyd lost consciousness – and died.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for murder by a Minneapolis court. He’s already serving that sentence. In July, a federal court sentenced the 46-year-old to a further 21 years in prison.