Thomas Lane: Ex-policeman jailed for role in George Floyd killing

An ex-policeman has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for violating the civil rights of George Floyd, whose 2020 Minneapolis death led to protests.

Thomas Lane, one of the officers who tried to arrest Mr Floyd, was sentenced following a conviction in February.

Lane, a white man, was found guilty of showing "deliberate indifference" to the medical needs of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man.

Federal prosecutors had called for Lane to face more than five years in prison.

But his lawyers had asked for just over two years on the grounds that Lane had suggested pushing Mr Floyd onto his side and had attempted to resuscitate him.

"It's terrible," one of George Floyd's brothers, Philonise Floyd, told reporters after the sentencing.

"This whole criminal system needs to be torn down and rebuilt."

Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, is currently serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence.

He was found guilty of Mr Floyd's murder last year. He also pleaded guilty in December to his own federal civil rights charges as part of a plea agreement.

Lane, 39, Tou Thao, 36, and J Alexander Kueng, 28, were present during the murder, but were charged with showing "deliberate indifference to [Mr Floyd's] serious medical needs".

Chauvin was a field training officer to both Lane and Kueng.

Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop the use of "unreasonable force" against Mr Floyd by Chauvin. Lane did not face that second charge.

In May, Lane pleaded guilty to state aiding and abetting manslaughter charges and agreed to a sentence of three years in jail. He will serve the two sentences concurrently.

A state trial is scheduled to be begin in January for the other two officers.