Aug. 20 (UPI) — An ex-Minneapolis police officer who was convicted in the 2020 killing of George Floyd has been released from federal prison, according to news reports.
Thomas Lane, 41, served his time at a low-security facility in Littleton, Colo., and officials previously had said he would go into supervision for a year after being released, according to officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
He is the first of four ex-Minneapolis officers in the incident to finish his sentence and be released.
The federal portion of his prison time was completed in April but he stayed behind bars to satisfy a state sentence for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, a BOP spokesperson told Star Tribune in Minnesota.
Lane, who appeared on scene with three other Minneapolis officers at the time of Floyd’s arrest and killing, already was serving a 30-month sentence in Colorado after he was convicted in July 2022 of violating Floyd’s civil rights. That conviction came for when former officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd on May 25, 2020, in south Minneapolis.
In May that year, Lane pleaded guilty in Hennepin County to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death and given his 2.5 year sentence.
Floyd, who was Black, died during an arrest when Chauvin knelt on the back of his neck for almost 10 minutes.
Lane was a fourth generation Minneapolis PD officer on his fourth day in the job when his career came to a screeching halt as a result of the incident. Notably, Lane was the only officer of the four to express any concern at the time over Floyd’s inability to breathe, later riding in the ambulance with an unresponsive Floyd while administering chest compressions in a futile attempt to revive him.
Cellphone video footage shows that Lane held Floyd down by his legs while other officers stood watch over a disapproving crowd. Despite repeated pleas for air, Chauvin did not let up which ultimately caused Floyd’s death.
Floyd’s killing at the hands of law enforcement galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked fierce nationwide protests that toppled numerous Civil War relics, Confederate statues and other historical monuments to slavery.
The incident then lead an angry crowd not long after Floyd’s death to set fire to a Minneapolis police precinct.
Chauvin was sentenced to more than 20 years last year after a jury convicted him of murder and manslaughter. He later pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights and is due to be released in 2038.
J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving a 3.5 year sentence.
Tou Thao, convicted of second-degree aiding and abetting manslaughter, is serving a nearly five-year sentence.
An ICE agent facing several assault charges in connection with a January shooting involving two Venezuelan people in Minnesota has been arrested in Texas, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.
Christian Castro was charged earlier this month with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
CNN is working to determine whether Castro has an attorney and has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Castro faces those charges in connection with the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man shot in the leg through the front door of a Minneapolis home. The incident took place during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement blitz in the Twin Cities.
Originally, Sosa-Celis and his cousin Alfredo A. Aljorna were facing federal charges after DHS said they had attacked an agent, prompting him to fire a defensive shot.
But the Justice Department dropped the charges in February, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement said two of its agents, who made false statements about the incident under oath, were placed on administrative leave.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
FOX 9’s Erika Mrazik has your Thursday evening and extended forecast. Our temperatures continue to feel more like July than May, and we’ll continue to see plenty of sun.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued an air quality alert for the Twin Cities starting Friday.
What we know:
MPCA says that ground-level ozone will be at unhealthy levels in the Twin Cities on Friday. An air quality will be in place from noon to 9 p.m.
An air quality alert in the Twin Cities. Graphic courtesy of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. (Supplied)
Sunny skies, low humidity and warm temperatures make for favorable conditions pollutants to react with sunlight to make ground-level ozone. MPCA says the ozone will subside as the sun sets.
Dig deeper:
People with asthma or other breathing conditions like COPD, chronic bronchitis and emphysema will be affected by poor quality. They can experience symptoms like difficulty deep breathing, shortness of breath, throat soreness, wheezing, coughing and unusual fatigue.
Additionally, children, teenagers and people of all ages who are doing heavy physical activity outside.
What you can do:
MPCA recommends taking it easy while outside and limiting physical activity.
To help reduce pollution, use public transit or carpool when possible, fill up your car’s tank at dawn or dusk and avoid backyard fires.
The Source: A press release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
After the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Police Department lost hundreds of officers and was a “depleted police department,” a statement from former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara’s attorney said.
The chief “made significant progress in rebuilding community trust and pride within the ranks of MPD,” the statement reads.
At the memorial to Alex Pretti, who was killed during Operation Metro Surge, part of the attorney statement hits home. It says the city was constantly on the “precipice of igniting the spark that would set the city on fire again” and it claims O’Hara helped mitigate the violent clashes.
Most people WCCO spoke with around several Minneapolis neighborhoods say O’Hara had their respect.
“I was watching the Twins game on my phone and the announcement came over and I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s that all about?’” said Marta Knick as she was heading to the Guthrie Theatre.
“I was very sad because we’re more than the sum of our mistakes,” said Minneapolis resident Howard Dotson.
Hours after the announcement, community members were eager to learn more about the one challenged with leading the most scrutinized police department in the country.
“What’s heartbreaking the most is he was in a high-level position of leaderhip and he dropped the ball,” said Michael Wilson, who works at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen.
Some are giving grace more than others.
“He may have made a mistake but that doesn’t erase his four years of transformational work in the MPD,” Dotson added.
O’Hara joined the department in November 2022, two-and-a-half years after the murder of Floyd.
“You have to reestablish culture. I feel like he did an amazing job at that and was front-facing, which is good,” said Wilson.
That wasn’t the chief’s only challenge. Just within the past year, he responded to the Annunciation Catholic School shooting and Operation Metro Surge.
“I was pleased with the whole way he handled the Metro Surge thing,” said Ruth Lipker on the Stone Arch Bridge.
In the statement from his attorney, O’Hara says he was “proud to serve Minneapolis and remains grateful to the officers and community partners who did difficult work under extraordinary pressure.”
“Yeah, he was invested in his job and the community. but he had personal investments in that job as well,” said Minneapolis resident Donald Turner.
Now, Minneapolis residents are looking ahead.
“We have change, again, and because we have change, I think we’re in the place to create a positive outlook or negative outlook,” Wilson told WCCO.
“I always have hope for the city. The city’s bigger than any of us and I love living here,” another man added while walking the Stone Arch Bridge.
In the recent statement from his attorney, there was zero comment on the investigation that occurred. Those WCCO spoke to continued to have questions about that.
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