One of the four Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd was released from jail Wednesday after posting bail.
ABC reports that 37-year-old Thomas Lane—one of three former police officers accused of aiding and abetting ex-officer Derek Chauvin, who caused Floyd’s death by holding him down while Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes—was released from Hennepin County jail at 5:08 p.m. Wednesday after being held on $750,000 conditional bail.
From ABC:
Lane, who was a rookie on the force, was being held on $1 million without conditions, but was released on conditions at $750,000. He will be monitored during release, may not carry a gun and must not take part in any law enforcement activities.
On top of that, the Star Tribune reports that at Lane’s next hearing, scheduled for June 29, the former cop—who was promptly fired along with the rest of the officers involved in Floyd’s detainment—will be filing a motion to have his charges dismissed, according to his attorney Earl Gray.
“Now we can watch what happens next from outside,” Gray told the Tribune. “We will bring a motion to dismiss and hopefully it will be granted.”
Floyd’s death while in police custody sparked an explosion of nationwide protests and civil unrest. Some of that tension appeared to have been calmed after news broke that, along with Chauvin, the other three fired officers would face criminal charges in connection to the incident. Many people will likely be unhappy to learn that Lane is at home with his wife instead of in jail with the other three former officers who have yet to post bail.
According to the Tribune, a fundraising website, that was raising money through PayPal donations on behalf of Lane, was recently taken down. Before being removed, admins for the site were “decrying the bail amount as unfairly high and also declaring that Lane ‘did everything he could’ to save Floyd’s life,” the Tribune reports. Gray told reporters that he doesn’t know how much money was raised before the site was taken down or who was behind the effort.
Chauvin—who is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter—has his bail set at $1.25 million. Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng, like Lane, are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and have their bails set at $750,000, the Tribune reports.