Thomas K. Lane
Thomas K. Lane was a rookie police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who played a role in Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd.[1] Lane and his partner, fellow rookie James Alexander Kueng, were the first officers to respond to a call from a convenience store where clerks complained about Floyd. They had Floyd restrained when Chauvin, their training officer, arrived on the scene.
Floyd was reluctant to enter the back seat of their police car, so Chauvin directed Lane and Kueng to restrain Floyd's legs and torso, while he kneeled on Floyd's neck. Security video, video recorded by concerned citizens, and the recorded audio from the police radio recorded that Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck for approximately nine minutes.
Floyd died, suffocated, by Chauvin's knee.[1]
Chauvin was a veteran officer, with approximately twenty years of experience.[1] His partner, Tou Thao, was a veteran with approximately 12 years of experience seemed to be trying to keep the concerned citizens from trying to intervene to save Floyd's life. Lane and Kueng had just finished their training, and had less than one week of experience as police officers.
Some critics questioned why the other officers didn't intervene, to stop Chauvin from killing Floyd. Commentators who defended Lane and Kueng agreed that, in general, police officers were expected to intervene, but, that as their training officer, they were under strong pressure to defer to Chauvin's greater experience and judgment.
Lane had pled guilty, avoiding trial.[2] He was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment, on July 1, 2022.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Holly Bailey (2022-01-28). "Officers charged in George Floyd’s killing had been taught to intervene, police trainer testifies". Washington Post (St. Paul, Minnesota). Archived from the original on 2022-01-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20220129124722/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/28/officers-charged-george-floyds-killing-had-been-taught-intervene-police-trainer-testifies/. Retrieved 2022-07-24. "Katie Blackwell, a Minneapolis Police Department inspector who commanded the agency’s training division at the time of Floyd’s May 2020 death, testified that former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao had undergone hours of training on the department’s use of force guidelines, including the duty to intervene and the obligation to render medical aid when someone in their custody needs it."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Holly Bailey (2022-07-01). "Former Minneapolis officer sentenced to 30 months for violating Floyd’s civil rights". Washington Post (St. Paul, Minnesota). Archived from the original on 2022-07-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20220724235249/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/21/thomas-lane-george-floyd-sentencing/. Retrieved 2022-07-24. "On Thursday, Magnuson praised Lane as being a man of “strong character” and noted that he had received nearly 150 letters from people urging him to deliver a lesser sentence — more letters than he had received in any other case he’s overseen during his four decades on the bench." mirror
