Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane took the witness stand in his own defense Monday in the federal civil rights trial, becoming tearful as he described seeing George Floyd's face for the first time after he was pinned to the ground for more than 9 minutes as he pleaded to breathe.
Lane, the third officer to testify, was first to speak with Floyd on the scene May 25, 2020, and described him as "handcuffed and out of control" early on in the arrest that led to Floyd's death. Lane held Floyd's legs down as officer J. Alexander Kueng restrained his mid-section and Tou Thao monitored a crowd of bystanders while ex-officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd's neck to the ground with his knee.
Defense lawyer Earl Gray asked whether Floyd stopped resisting after four minutes under restraint. Lane responded, yes and "I said, 'should we roll him on the side?'" But Lane said Chauvin responded, "Nope, we're good like this."
Gray walked Lane through the final moments of the restraint and his suggestions to Chauvin. Chauvin is serving a sentence of more than 22 years for a murder conviction in Floyd's death last year. Chauvin also pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges in Floyd's death in December.
Lane testified that he said he was concerned about excited delirium and Chauvin responded, "That's why we got him on his stomach and that's why the ambulance is coming."
Lane testified that he said OK and "it just seemed reasonable at the time."
Lane and Kueng were first on the scene to a call of a forgery in progress at Cup Foods in South Minneapolis. Lane was on his fourth shift as a full-fledged officer, having only recently completed training.
Gray asked if he knew Chauvin before that day. "I knew that he was an FTO (field training officer) and I knew of his reputation that he'd been on for 20 years and was a guy that had been in a lot of serious situations and could handle himself," Lane said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Trepel worked through about 40 minutes of cross examination of Lane before the lunch break, talking about his experience, noting that he'd been on about 130 calls since the beginning of 2020 while still working under supervision.
She said all officers are trained that if someone doesn't have a pulse, they start CPR within 5 to 10 seconds because checking a pulse doesn't circulate their blood or oxygen.
Lane said yes, if the situation allows.
Trepel asked whether getting the other officers off Floyd would have allowed him to breathe. Lane said that Floyd was breathing. But Trepel said that after a certain point Lane made no additional observations about his pulse or breathing.
Lane agreed that he didn't say anything after that.
Her cross examination was expected to resume after lunch.
Under direct questioning, Lane testified that Chauvin's knee "appeared to be just kind of holding at the base of (Floyd's) the neck and shoulder." Lane said he couldn't see Floyd's face and that he asked to roll him a second time to "better assess" Floyd's "condition."
In response, Chauvin, "just kind of avoided that and asked if we were OK," Lane testified.
Even though he couldn't find a pulse on Floyd, Lane said he thought he still had blood pressure because "the veins were sticking out in his arm. "
Lane said he was reassured when the ambulance arrived and paramedic Derek Smith - without apparent urgency — checked Floyd's carotid before retrieving a stretcher. Lane said he assumed at that point "that Mr. Floyd's all right. ... that Mr. Floyd had a pulse."
But as he testified about seeing Floyd's face for the first time when he was put onto the stretcher, Lane said, "He didn't look good."
Lane got choked up, teary and wiped his nose with a handkerchief as he described why he went in the ambulance to help. "Just based on when Mr. Floyd was turned over, he didn't look good and I just felt like, the situation, he might need a hand," Lane said.
Lane spoke haltingly as he talked about the life-saving efforts in the ambulance when he first realized Floyd had gone into cardiac arrest. But Lane testified he didn't know the cause of the arrest and whether Floyd had died.
Gray asked Lane about the interaction with Floyd before he was on the ground with Lane describing attempts to get him into the squad vehicle. "We were going to try to lift him and put him back in, but like I say, he was a big guy," Lane said.
Lane said he suggested using a hobble device to restrain Floyd because: "That's what we probably should use because we can't control him" and he's "hitting his head on the glass." He said Floyd met "the criteria of he's handcuffed and out of control."
His suggestion of the hobble was rejected by Thao, who said the ambulance was coming and they'd also have to notify a sergeant of the use of force, Lane said.
Lane testified that he had called an ambulance on Code 2, meaning no lights and sirens, because Floyd was bleeding from his mouth after hitting his head.
Had they used the hobble, Floyd likely would have been held in the side recovery position and better able to breathe than the position he was held in for more than 9 minutes on his stomach.
At some point during the restraining of Floyd, Lane said they also stepped up the ambulance call to Code 3, meaning: "get here as fast as you can."
On the stand, Lane talked about his life and background. He's married and turns 39 in a couple weeks. He and his wife are expecting their first child soon.
He grew up in Arden Hills and attended Mounds View High School, earning his associate's degree from Century College before attending the University of Minnesota and deciding on a career in law enforcement.
He was accepted to the Minneapolis Police Department in February 2019 and completed his training in early December. Lane said his grandfather was a homicide detective, working the Washington Avenue beat. His great-grandfather also worked for the MPD.
Gray asked Lane if he was terminated from the department on May 26. Lane responded, "Yeah, I found out I was terminated sitting in a Subway parking lot. I read a news article."
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