Former Minneapolis cop sentenced to 2.5 years for violating George Floyd's civil rights

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- A former police officer of Minneapolis, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, was sentenced on Thursday to two and half years in prison for violating George Floyd's civil rights.

Thomas Lane was found guilty in February, along with two other former Minneapolis police officers, on a federal civil rights charge stemming from Floyd's death.

A federal jury said they deprived Floyd of his right to medical care and failed to intervene as their colleague Derek Chauvin knelt on the African American man's neck for more than nine minutes during a street arrest on May 25, 2020.

Judge Paul Magnuson said that Lane had a "minimal role" in the incident. Floyd's family members expressed frustration over the sentence.

Floyd's death sparked massive demonstrations across the United States in the summer of 2020 against police brutality and systemic racism.

Chauvin was sentenced in a federal court to 21 years in prison earlier this month for violating Floyd's civil rights.

The sentence is running concurrently with Chauvin's state sentence of 22.5 years after he was convicted for second and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter.