Minneapolis ex-cop Thomas Lane admits he didn't check the 'fake' $20 note George Floyd was accused of using
Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane admitted that he did not check the alleged "fake" $20 note that 46-year-old George Floyd was accused of using at a local deli prior to his arrest. Floyd died after former cop, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for around eight minutes until he had lost consciousness. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter while the three assisting cops — Lane, J Alexander Keung and Tou Thao — have been charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Lane had been holding down Floyd's legs while he was being detained on May 25, Unilad reports. Lane's interviews with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) have been publicly released. It has been revealed that Lane did not check the "fake" $20 note that Floyd had been using. Post reports of an alleged forgery, Lane had been one of the first two police officers to arrive at the scene. When he reached, Lane said that an employee from the store had come up to him with the alleged fake bill and had pointed to Floyd. The employee had said, "That’s the guy over there. Go get him before he drives away." The audio recordings of the 97-minute long interview with investigators were obtained by MailOnline where Lane had spoken in details about the events leading up to the death of Floyd.
(Hennepin County Sheriff's Office)
When investigators asked him whether Lane had looked at the bill, he had responded saying, "no". When the investigator asked, "Did you ever collect it later or anything like that?" Lane replied, "I think it was. I'm not sure." The investigator then repeated, "But, you didn't do that and you haven't seen it?" Again, Lane replied saying, "no". Lane said that they had been "more concerned with at least detaining that person on the suspicion of passing counterfeit bill and then figuring out the validity of the bill". Lane had shared that Floyd was visibly panicked when the cops had drawn out their guns and had pointed it at him as he told them he had been shot before. Rookie cop, Lane, also revealed that he had inspected the forged or fake money and claimed that it was Chauvin's idea to keep Floyd pinned on the ground.
He added that the employee from the deli had also not explained to him why he believed that the money was not real. During a court filing last month, Lane's attorney had submitted some pictures from inside Floyd's car which includes a bunch of crumpled fake $20 bills and also two $1 bills. It is not known whether the bills were the same as the ones he had used in the store. When Lane found Floyd outside, he said he grew suspicious after it seemed like Floyd was trying to hide something underneath his car seat. Lane feared that Floyd had a gun and drew his weapon.
Two other passengers, including a female, had also been in the vehicle at the time. Floyd had tried to exit his vehicle but was told to stay inside. "At that point, I was basically saying, 'I'm going to get you out of the car, put your hands on top of your head'," Lane revealed. "l think he was saying, 'I got shot like this before' or something, and, 'I'm not the guy'," he added. "The female said something about he'd been shot like that before, that's why he was freaking out, because we pulled the gun on him. And I said, well, 'If he has his hand down there, if I'm telling you to see your hand, let me see your hands. You don't keep your hand hidden for any reason'," Lane shared. Lane did not speak about Chauvin's kneeling into Floyd's neck. He said he could not feel a pulse on Floyd after paramedics arrived.