J Alexander Kueng was one of four police officer involved in the May 2020 arrest of George Floyd
MINNEAPOLIS (Minnesota, US), Dec 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s back has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for his role in Floyd’s death.
J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in October.
He was one of four officers involved in the arrest, filmed by bystanders, of the 46-year-old.
Floyd’s death, who was killed by police in May 2020 while lying prone and handcuffed, sparked global outrage and a wave of demonstrations against racial injustice and police use of force.
Kueng will serve his new sentence for state charges concurrently with a previous federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
In April 2021, former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on state murder and manslaughter charges for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minute and sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in jail. He is serving that sentence concurrently with a 20-year sentence on federal civil rights charges, for which he pleaded guilty in December 2021.
In February, Kueng, along with two other responding officers, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, were also found guilty on federal civil rights charges. The officers were charged with showing “deliberate indifference to [Floyd’s] serious medical needs” during the attempted arrest.
Video footage of the arrest shows Kueng and Lane assisting Chauvin by helping to hold Floyd down. Thao, meanwhile, kept concerned bystanders away. Chauvin was a field training officer to both Lane and Kueng.
In a statement, attorneys representing George Floyd’s family said that the sentencing represents “yet another piece of justice for the Floyd family”.
“While the family faces yet another holiday season without George, we hope that moments like these continue to bring them a measure of peace, knowing that George’s death was not in vain,” the statement added. — NNN-AGENCIES
