MINNESOTA, USA
In emotional testimony on
Monday, former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane told a jury that he tried
to help George Floyd several
times but in each instance was blocked by his senior officer, Derek Chauvin.Attorney Earl Gray questions Thomas Lane before U.S. District Judge Magnuson during his trial in the killing of George Floyd in federal court in St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 21, 2022.
Lane is the third former
police officer to take
the witness stand in his own defense regarding charges of violating
Floyd's civil rights.
The 38-year-old Lane told the U.S. District Court
jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, that when paramedics
came to take Floyd to a hospital, he volunteered to assist them, testifying
that he thought Floyd "didn't look good."
"I felt with the situation, they might need a
hand," Lane testified.
Lane and his former police colleagues, Tou Thao,
35, and J. Alexander Kueng, 28, are charged with using the "color of the
law," or their positions as police officers, to deprive Floyd of his civil
rights by allegedly showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs as Chauvin kneeled
on the back of the handcuffed man's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds,
ultimately killing him.
They have all pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the
men face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Closing arguments in the high-profile case are
scheduled for Tuesday.
Both Lane and Kueng were rookie police officers at
the time of Floyd's death, and their field training officer was Chauvin, who
was convicted of murdering Floyd and sentenced to over
22 years in prison. Chauvin also pleaded guilty to federal civil rights
violations.
Lane said he and Kueng were partnered up for the
first time when they responded to a call on Memorial Day 2020 of a person
possibly under the influence who had allegedly used a fake $20 bill to purchase
cigarettes at a Cup Foods store.
He testified that when he confronted Floyd, who was seated in the driver's seat of a Mercedes-Benz SUV parked outside the store with two passengers, "it looked like he (Floyd) was trying to put something away" and that he couldn’t see the man's right hand.
Lane told the jury that he initially drew his gun
and yelled at Floyd "to let him know how serious I thought it was."
He said he then lowered his voice to de-escalate
the situation and told Floyd, "I’m not going to shoot you."
A struggle broke out, he testified, when he and
Kueng tried to get the handcuffed man into a police cruiser.
Lane testified that he and Kueng were still
struggling with Floyd when Chauvin and Thao arrived at the scene.
"Chauvin cut in front of me," he said,
adding that he backed off and deferred to Chauvin, who decided to place Floyd
prone on the pavement.
Lane said he was holding and monitoring Floyd’s
legs "because of the kicking." But, he testified, Floyd's resistance
lessened after a few minutes.
Gray asked Lane if he could see where Chauvin's
knee was on Floyd's body.
"It appeared to be kind of holding at the base
of the neck and shoulder," Lane testified.
Lane said he couldn't see Floyd's face until the
paramedics arrived and placed him on a stretcher.
He testified that while he, Kueng and Chauvin held
Floyd down, he suggested rolling Floyd on his side to help his breathing, but
Chauvin told him, "Nope, we're good like this." He said that when he
asked a second time, Chauvin "deflected" his question.
Lane testified that he also asked Kueng to check
Floyd’s pulse and that he also tried to check Floyd's ankle for a pulse.
He claimed that when paramedics arrived and checked Floyd's pulse, he was assured he had a pulse. Later, under cross-examination, Lane said paramedics told him Floyd was unresponsive.
Under cross-examination from Assistant U.S.
District Attorney Samantha Trepel, Lane agreed that fear of repercussions or
angering his field training officer was not an exception to his duty as a
police officer to render aid to Floyd.
"Despite your training, you deferred to your
colleagues?" Trepel asked.
Lane replied, "It seemed reasonable at the
time with an ambulance coming." - ABC
No comments:
Post a Comment