The last officer accused of violating George Floyd’s civil rights during his deadly detainment took the stand on Monday to assure jurors in a federal trial that he did everything he could to save Floyd’s life. Thomas Lane said in testimony covered by NBC News that he did chest compressions on Floyd, offered to ride with paramedics to the hospital, and suggested officers roll Floyd on his side "to get a better assessment." Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was the more senior officer on the scene, refused Lane’s suggestion, he testified.
When Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, asked why he wanted to ride to the hospital with paramedics, Lane reportedly said, with his voice cracking: "Just based on how when Mr. Floyd turned over, he didn't look good. I felt with the situation, they might need a hand."
Floyd had been accused of providing a counterfeit $20 bill when officers were called to the scene on May 25, 2020 outside of the Cup Foods store in Minneapolis. The former officers have claimed that they were trying to detain Floyd safely in an incident that ended with Chauvin pressing his knee into the Black father’s neck for more than nine minutes.
J. Alexander Kueng, a biracial ex-officer also accused in Floyd's death, held Floyd down along with Lane while former cop Tou Thao blocked bystanders from providing Floyd with any aid.
Footage shown in the state trial revealed that Floyd said he was claustrophobic and had anxiety about getting into the back of a squad car. Lane testified that when they got Floyd into the car, he started bashing his face on the back partition, so they opted to put him on the ground.
At one point in the detainment, Kueng testified that he checked Floyd for a pulse and couldn't find one. Lane testified that he also checked Floyd's ankle for a pulse and couldn't find one. When paramedics arrived seconds later, he saw Floyd's face for the first time since they removed him from the squad car, Lane said in testimony reported by NBC News.
"He didn't look good," Lane said.
That's when Lane reportedly attempted CPR until paramedics filled in with a mechanical tool.
“Lane pauses and sniffles several times through his testimony as he talks about trying to do CPR in the ambulance and then parting ways when they took over with Lucas device,” KARE 11 reporter Lou Raguse said in a tweet.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Trepel corrected Lane’s assessment of the time that passed between Kueng not finding a pulse and the ambulance arriving in cross-examinations Raguse covered. Trepel said a minute-and-a-half passed.
“It didn’t feel like that,” Lane responded.
Following testimony from Lane’s peers that they deferred to Chauvin, Trepel began cross-examination by establishing that Chauvin was not higher-ranked than Lane and that Lane was fully trained.
Lane admitted that he could have handled the situation differently, Raguse reported.
Lane said he found out he was terminated the day after Floyd’s death while sitting in a Subway sandwich shop parking lot, reading a news article.
Thao and Kueng pleaded not guilty to failing to intervene in Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force, and Lane, Thao, and Kueng pleaded not guilty to willfully failing to aid Floyd.
Closing arguments are set to begin on Tuesday, Raguse tweeted.
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