Ex-US officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back gets 3.5 years

Former Minneapolis police officer J Alexander Kueng’s sentence is ‘one other piece of justice’ for Floyd household, lawyer says.

A former United States police officer has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for his function within the dying of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man whose Might 2020 killing by the hands of Minneapolis police set off a wave of mass protests.

J Alexander Kueng appeared for a sentencing listening to in Hennepin County District Court docket on Friday, becoming a member of by way of video hyperlink from a federal jail in Ohio, the place he’s already serving a three-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

He had pleaded responsible in October to state expenses of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, and each sentences shall be served on the similar time.

“Mr Kueng was not merely a bystander that day. He did lower than what a number of the bystanders tried to do in serving to Mr Floyd,” stated Matthew Frank, who led the prosecution effort for the Minnesota lawyer basic’s workplace.

Floyd was killed on Might 25, 2020, when one other Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, handcuffed him and kneeled on his neck for greater than 9 minutes whereas Floyd repeatedly stated that he couldn’t breathe and bystanders implored the officer to cease.

Keung was one of many three different officers current on the scene, and he kneeled on Floyd’s again whereas Chauvin kneeled on his neck.

Floyd’s dying sparked outrage and helped ignite an enormous protest motion for racial justice and higher accountability for police, with 1000’s of individuals taking part in demonstrations all over the world.

Lawyer Ben Crump, who has represented the Floyd household, stated in a press release earlier than Friday’s listening to that Kueng’s sentencing “delivers one more piece of justice for the Floyd household”.

“Whereas the household faces one more vacation season with out George, we hope that moments like these proceed to carry them a measure of peace, realizing that George’s dying was not in useless,” Crump stated.

In February, Keung and fellow officers Tou Thao and Thomas Lane have been discovered responsible in federal court docket of violating Floyd’s civil rights and depriving him of medical care.

They obtained jail sentences starting from two and a half to a few and a half years, and a plea deal by Keung implies that he’ll serve his three-and-a-half-year sentence on state expenses concurrently together with his three-year federal sentence.

In his state plea settlement, Keung admitted that he knew from his coaching that restraining a handcuffed individual in a inclined place got here with severe dangers and that utilizing the method on Floyd was unreasonable below the circumstances.

Chauvin obtained a 21-year jail sentence in July on federal expenses of violating Floyd’s civil rights. He additionally was sentenced final 12 months to 22.5 years in jail after being discovered responsible of homicide in a state case.