Former Minneapolis Officer Testifies He Thought George Floyd Restraint Was ‘Reasonable’
Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane, who is charged with George Floyd’s death, testified in a federal civil rights violations trial that he believed a knee in his neck was “reasonable.” It was the final testimony of the officers on trial as the defense rested in the case on Monday (Feb. 21).
"It just seemed reasonable at the time,” said Lane, 38, while on the witness stand, according to Reuters. “This guy is out of control," adding that he thought the ambulance would arrive "here any minute."
Lane also said he did not see Floyd's face when the knee of supervising officer Derek Chauvin was on his neck and that when he was in the back of the ambulance with Floyd he performed CPR, with instruction from a paramedic.
Along with fellow policemen Tou Thao and J. Alexander Keung, Lane is standing trial in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care.
Defense attorney Earl Gray asked Lane that he had called an ambulance once he saw Floyd’s mouth bleeding after struggling for air after being subdued by Chauvin. “He didn’t look good,” said Lane in an emotional voice. He later told prosecutors that he suggested rolling Floyd onto his side and that asphyxiation was not a concern at the moment. "I just wanted to get a better assessment of him," he said.
On May 25, 2020, during an attempt to arrest Floyd, officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground under his knee for more than nine minutes, while Lane and Keung helped to restrain him and Thao attempted to block the crowd from intervening.
A state jury convicted Chauvin on April 20, 2021, on all counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. He pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges of violating the civil rights of Floyd, 46, and a minor victim in December, but the second charge was dismissed. Chauvin is serving 22 ½ years in prison in the state case, but he has not been sentenced yet in the federal case.
The three ex-cops are also charged in state court with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death. In the federal case, closing arguments were set to proceed on Tuesday (Feb. 22).
