Thomas Lane, Ex-Cop Convicted in the Killing of George Floyd, Released from Prison

Thomas Lane, one of the ex-Minneapolis police officers convicted in the 2020 killing of George Floyd, has been released from federal prison. 

In 2022 Lane was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for his role in Floyd’s death. Later that year, he was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to the state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dismissed the original charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder

Lane served his sentences concurrently in a low-security federal prison in Littleton, Colorado, and will remain on supervised release for the next year. He had been working as a Minneapolis police officer for four days at the time of Floyd’s death.

During the 2020 arrest, Lane can be seen on cellphone footage holding down Floyd’s legs as fellow ex-officer Derek Chauvin kneels on his neck.

Lane will be the first person involved in Floyd’s death to be released from prison. Ex-officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao are both scheduled to be released next year and Chauvin won’t see freedom until 2038.