One of three Minneapolis police officers who witnessed the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 pleaded guilty this Wednesday (18th) to the crime of negligent manslaughter.
The statement means that Thomas Lane, 39, claims he had no intention of murdering the 46-year-old black man, but admits he did nothing to stop the crime. He was present when Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck against the asphalt for more than nine minutes.
The images of the white policeman asphyxiating the former black security guard quickly went viral and generated a wave of anti-racism and anti-police violence demonstrations around the world.
“I am pleased that Thomas Lane has admitted responsibility for his role in Floyd’s death,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “Acknowledging that he did something wrong is an important step in healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community and the nation.”
According to a spokesperson for the court where Lane was heard on Wednesday, the former police officer’s defense suggested he serve a three-year prison term for the crime he admitted. His sentence is due to be announced on September 21. Lane and two other former police officers involved in the crime, Tou Thao, 36, and J. Alexander Kueng, 28, had already been convicted by the federal court in February of depriving the former security guard of his constitutional rights by not providing him with assistance. doctor.
At the time, Lane’s lawyer even argued that his client shouldn’t even be accused, as he expressed concern about Floyd’s condition and would have suggested to Chauvin twice to turn him on his side, in order to make it easier for him to breathe. The court, however, upheld the prosecution of prosecutor Manda Sertich, who claimed that the officers “chose to do nothing” while the now ex-cop pressed Floyd’s neck. That choice, she argues, resulted in his death.
Since the trial at the federal level, the three former agents remain free, on bail, while they await the sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. Thao and Kueng are also awaiting trial, set for June 13, for the same crime Lane confessed to on Wednesday and second-degree manslaughter (when the murder is unintentional, but the defendant kills someone while committing bodily harm) — the admission de Lane exempts him from participating in that trial.
If convicted after pleading not guilty, the ex-cop could receive a much greater sentence. According to her lawyer, Lane has a newborn son and “wants to be a part of the child’s life.”
In a statement, lawyers for Floyd’s family said the confession is “another step towards the conclusion of the grisly and historic murder”. “We hope this statement will help usher in a new era where law enforcement officers understand that juries will hold them accountable, just as they would any other citizen. Perhaps soon officers won’t require families to endure the pain of lengthy court proceedings in which their criminal acts are obvious and apparent.”
Chauvin, who was directly responsible for the former security guard’s death, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison last year. Jurors found him guilty of three categories of murder in a unanimous verdict.
Although the decision was considered historic and the Floyd case opened up the dimension of racism and police violence in the US, concrete changes in public policies that address both issues are still proceeding at a slow pace. The clearest example is the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act: passed by the House in March 2021, it stalled in the Senate in September, with a lack of consensus between Democrats and Republicans, and remains stuck.
