Ex-cop pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd's death

[groundloop]

Source: AP News

A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.

As part of the plea deal, Thomas Lane will have a count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder dismissed. Lane, along with J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, has already been convicted on federal counts of willfully violating Floyd’s rights during the May 2020 restraint that led to the Black man’s death.

The state is recommending a sentence of three years for Lane and has agreed to allow him to serve the time in a federal prison.

Their former colleague, Derek Chauvin, pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights and faces a federal sentence ranging from 20 to 25 years. Chauvin earlier was convicted of state charges of murder and manslaughter and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in the state case.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-minneapolis-thomas-lane-tou-thao-677bca9f4e263a28db3ab7a14a3db93c

[llashram]

1. excellent

'blue wall' cracked in this one. Couldn't put a finger in that dike. Too many saw it and commented on that murder and silence by those 'peace officers' standing there with their thumbs up their butts. I hope they really feel their loss of freedom deep in their dark souls.

[Faux pas]

2. ...

Good they're all going down!

[Roc2020]

3. Accountability. Nice.

[Rocknation]

11. +1

Rocknation

[AllaN01Bear]

4. eggscllent .

[JudyM]

5. Okay, but not enough.

A police officer assists another in essentially strangling a man. 3 years for that is an insult to justice, IMO.

If it was an instantaneous decision to assist chauvin I’d feel differently, but this happened over a period of minutes, and he should have stood up and insisted on mercy for the obviously suffering and incapacitated captive. Floyd was handcuffed, after all!!

[Randomthought]

6. Third day on the job

I know that it does not excuse him but he is the only officer to verbally protest at the time. Yes he should have stood up and refused to participate but can each of us honestly say that throwing away your dream job would be easy. I hope I would do the right thing but at the age of 72 I realize I have made mistakes and compromises I shouldn't have made.
BTW I live in Minneapolis and at one time about three blocks from the place where George Floyd was killed.

[JudyM]

7. I get that, but this was a wanton disregard of right-or-wrong that, when dealing with possibly

killing someone, or at a minimum putting them in grave danger, should not be excused by the team relationship uncertainties of this situation. Looking out for his job can’t be a higher level of importance than a helpless captive’s life.. It is common sense, even if it wasn’t taught in the academy. He took care of himself and backed down.

We all make mistakes, sure, but I hope that isn’t a mistake any rookies will make in the future. Let Floyd’s memory be emblematic of a bright line for officer training nationwide.

[ArizonaLib]

8. I agree

If he should not have been on the street, he should not have been on the street. Fresh out of training is even more egregious - unless the training was to overlook illegal and lethal actions by superiors.

[Randomthought]

9. They were his training officers

[Rocknation]

10. I congratulate and thank ex-officer Lane

Last edited Fri May 20, 2022, 10:25 AM - Edit history (1)

for being decent enough to take accountability for his guilt.


Rocknation