Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane, right, walks out of the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility on June 29 with his attorney Earl Gray. (Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)
Thomas Lane’s attorney says he plans to argue George Floyd died from an opioid overdose and underlying heart condition
By Richard Read
Los Angeles Times
August 22, 2020
MINNEAPOLIS — The public quickly reached its verdict: Minneapolis police killed George Floyd.
Video seen around the world shows him on the pavement, his neck pinned beneath the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, pleading for his life — “I can’t breathe” — until his body goes limp.
Two autopsies concluded the death was a homicide.
Chauvin was charged with murder and three other officers — Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng, who both helped hold down Floyd, and Tou Thao, who kept onlookers at bay — were charged as accomplices.
In an interview with The Times, a lawyer for Lane laid out what he said would be a central argument for the defense.
“None of these guys — even Chauvin — actually killed him,” said the attorney, Earl Gray. “He killed himself.”
Free to speak publicly since a judge lifted a gag order on all parties in the case, Gray said he plans to argue that Floyd died from an overdose of the powerful opioid fentanyl and an underlying heart condition.
“We are going to show that my client and the other cops were doing their jobs,” he said.
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They will attempt to acquire a “Change of Venue” for the Court Case and may not get it .
Floyd may have been a career criminal and the way he died may well have been partially caused by the Drugs/Fentanyl in his system but I would hate to see anyone die that way .
I do not believe I can pass judgement on the actions of Chauvin without more information, having said that Chauvin does not look good and I would like to hear more from Police Trainers in various Police departments and more of the autopsy report before I concluded any opinion .
Depending on where and how the trial for Chauvin is staged he might get off with an aggravated assault conviction or perhaps something even less as no matter what one might think Floyd did indeed contribute to
his own demise . Again, Floyd did not deserve to die but how much did he contribute to his own death .
Personally I find it hard to put any blame on the two rookie cops, they were basically victims of circumstance .
No matter how one looks at it I firmly believe this is a tragedy all the way around .
I also fear what the fall out might be if Chauvin is found not guilty or guilty of a much lesser offence, will it mean Fire Bombings, Looting, Death and destruction ? Quite possibly and that in itself will be another tragedy . .