Ex-Cop Convicted In George Floyd Murder Can Leave Prison Tuesday

MINNEAPOLIS — Thomas Lane, one of four former Minneapolis police officers convicted in the murder of George Floyd, will be released from prison Tuesday.

Lane held Floyd’s legs while Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd to the asphalt of Chicago Avenue. He was sentenced in July 2022 to 2½ years in federal prison after he was convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.

The federal prison sentence ran concurrently with a conviction and sentence in state court.

Lane had been serving his time at FCI Englewood in Colorado. He will be the first of the four men involved in Floyd's killing to be released from prison.

Tou Thao, 38, now at FMC Lexington, is set to be released in April 2025.

J Alexander Kueng, 30, FCI Elkton, is also scheduled to be released in April 2025.

Chauvin, serving time at FTC Oklahoma City, won't be released until January 2038.

The three-count federal indictment claimed that all four former officers' actions resulted in Floyd's death.

Count one

Count one specifically notes that Chauvin held his left knee on Floyd's neck — and his right knee on Floyd's back and arm — while Floyd was handcuffed and not resisting. Chauvin kept his knees on Floyd's body even after he became unresponsive, the count stated.

The indictment claims that Chauvin's actions violated Floyd's constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.

Count two

Count two of the indictment claims Thao and Kueng "willfully failed to intervene to stop Chauvin's use of unreasonable force."

Count three

Count three of the indictment claims that all four ex-officers watched Floyd lying on the ground "in clear need of medical care and willfully failed to aid him."

All four former offices "willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes an arrestee's right to be free from a police officer's deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs," the indictment stated.