An attorney is seeking the dismissal of charges for one of the four police officers charged in the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Earl Gray, the attorney for 37-year-old Thomas Lane, filed a motion to dismiss the charges in Hennepin County District Court on Tuesday, citing a “lack of probable cause based on the entire record.”
A number of documents related to Lane were also submitted, including transcripts of interviews, body camera footage, and other training materials. Lane is currently charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter, along with now-former officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng.
Derek Chauvin, who was seen in viral footage kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Lane posted bail of $750,000 earlier this month and was released from the Hennepin County Jail with conditions.
In a memo submitted along with the motion to support the cause, Gray cited body camera footage that shows Lane asking if they should put Floyd on his side. He also offered to ride in the ambulance with Floyd and help provide CPR. The memo also shows Lane was hired by the Minneapolis Police Department in Feb. 2019 and finished his training on May 20, 2020 — just five days before Floyd’s death.
Lane said he had checked for Floyd’s pulse and had conducted chest compressions on Floyd, thinking he might still be breathing while he was placed in the ambulance, according to a transcript of his interview with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office told KARE 11 that Ellison intends to oppose the motion to dismiss.
