A former Minneapolis police officer on Friday was sentenced to three and half years in prison for his involvement in the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed when a fellow police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020.
J. Alexander Kueng, who pleaded guilty in October to one count of aiding and abetting manslaughter, appeared for the sentencing hearing in Hennepin County District Court through a video.
Alexander was one of four officers who were called to a Minneapolis grocery store on May 25, 2020, and tried to take Floyd into custody on suspicion that he used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
During the encounter, the senior officer on the scene, Derek Chauvin, pinned the handcuffed Floyd’s neck to the ground with a knee, causing his death.
Kueng, 29, and fellow officer Thomas Lane helped Chauvin restrain Floyd, while another officer, Tou Thao, kept bystanders from approaching the scene.
Chauvin was convicted of murder in a state trial and sentenced to 22-1/2 years. He also pleaded guilty to related federal charges and is serving a federal sentence of 21 years concurrently.
The three other officers were convicted in federal court of depriving Floyd of his civil rights and sentenced in July to between 2 and half and 3 and half years in prison.
Kueng’s sentencing represents a taste of justice for the Floyd family, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement.
‘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,’ Crump said.
Meanwhile, demonstrations and riots erupted across Minneapolis after the incident.
A disturbing video of Floyd’s final minutes circulating on social media helped spark demonstrations across the nation and in large cities around the globe.
