In the 2020 case, one of three Minneapolis cops who witnessed fellow law enforcement officer Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd by holding a knee over his neck pled guilty to aiding and abetting manslaughter, sparking a wave of racial unrest.
Chauvin, a white man, was convicted of killing George Floyd, a Black man accused of allegedly passing a counterfeit bill, and was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in jail last year.
Thomas Lane, now a former law enforcement officer, dodged a trial on the more serious allegation of aiding and abetting second-degree murder by submitting his plea on Wednesday. The Minneapolis Star Tribune stated that he consented to a three-year term in jail. There is no date set for a sentencing hearing.
Online Hennepin County Court records show that Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, two additional former policemen involved in George Floyd’s detention, are due to stand trial in June on both state and federal charges.
“His acknowledgment he did something wrong is an important step toward healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community, and the nation,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
Lane, Thao, and Kueng were found guilty in February of robbing Floyd of his civil rights by refusing to provide help after he displayed signals of suffering while held beneath Chauvin’s knee for more than nine minutes.
Chauvin pled guilty to accusations of violating Floyd’s civil rights in federal court. Floyd’s death spurred protests against police violence and racism all across the world.
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