Jonathan Allen

ST. PAUL (Minn.) – While George Floyd’s May 2020 arrest at Minneapolis seemed reasonable, Thomas Lane, one former Minneapolis officer on trial for violating civil rights of the handcuffed Black man, said Monday that he was unable to restrain Floyd.

Lane, who was charged with denying Floyd the right to medical assistance while he was in custody by the U.S. District Court of St. Paul as a third defendant, took the stand at his defense.

Answering questions by Earl Gray, Lane calmly explained to the jury that he called an ambulance after Floyd was seen bleeding from the mouth. He had been fighting Lane and another officer to help Floyd get into a car.

Tou Thao (36) and J. Alexander Kueng (28) took to the stand last week, claiming they deferred in their actions to Derek Chauvin (2,5 years). Lane and Kueng only had a short training period.

A cell phone video shows Chauvin (a white man) kneeling down on Floyd for nine minutes. Floyd then begs for his life. This triggered massive protests against police brutality and racism. In a separate trial, Chauvin was found guilty of the murder of Floyd. He was sentenced to 22-1/2 year imprisonment.

Prosecutors say that officers have a duty to care for anyone under their control, and Floyd was not helped by the officers.

Lane, 38 years old, is heard asking his coworkers if Floyd should be rolled onto his back. Officers are trained in this technique to avoid asphyxia.

Chauvin, 45 years old, rejects this suggestion and continues to sit on Floyd’s neck while bystanders shout at officers to take his pulse.

Lane replied, “OK. I think so.” Lane replied, “It seemed just reasonable at that time. He is completely out of control. The man said that he was certain the ambulance would arrive “any minute”.

Previous medical experts have been called by the prosecution to say that Floyd almost certainly would have lived had he rolled onto his side after he was restrained.

Thao, Kueng and Chauvin will be charged with an additional offense of violating Floyd’s rights by failing to act to stop Chauvin’s abuse of force.

They both claimed that Chauvin was the only one who knew the ropes from nearly 20 years on the force, and they did not realise the excess force.