Ex-Minneapolis officer Thomas Lane finishes federal prison time in George Floyd killing

Thomas Lane, one of the former Minneapolis police officers convicted for killing George Floyd nearly fours ago, has completed the federal portion of his prison time and now is nearing an end to being locked up.

Lane, 41, will remain housed at the low-security federal lockup in Littleton, Colo., until his state sentence for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter ends on Aug. 20, Minnesota Department of Corrections spokesperson Shannon Loehrke said Thursday.

Another year of supervised release will follow before he satisfies the terms of his state sentence, Loehrke said.

In July 2022, a federal judge sentenced Lane to 2½ years in prison in the federal civil rights case linked to the killing of Floyd — delivering a lighter sentence than what prosecutors had urged.

One of four officers charged both in state and federal court in connection with Floyd's May 25, 2020, murder, Lane held Floyd's legs as officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Lane twice asked whether the officers should reposition Floyd and later attempted CPR after paramedics loaded Floyd into an ambulance, but prosecutors argued that he did not do enough to aid Floyd.

Chauvin was convicted in Hennepin County District Court in 2021 of second-degree murder and manslaughter. Chauvin later pleaded guilty to federal charges for violating Floyd's civil rights and is serving a 20-year prison term concurrent with his 22-year state sentence. He's due to be released from prison in 2038, according to U.S. Bureau of Prison records.

Accomplices Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng were also convicted in state and federal courts and remain imprisoned.

Floyd, who was Black, died while pinned under the knee of Chauvin, who is white, at the corner of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street in south Minneapolis. Floyd's death ignited days of protests and at times deadly riots.