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Ex-Minneapolis cop J. Alexander Kueng sentenced to 3.5 years in George Floyd’s death

A judge scheduled former Minneapolis police Officer J. Alexander Kueng to serve three and a half years in jail for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the May 2020 death of George Floyd.

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Floyd died after then-Officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to Floyd’s neck for nine-and-a-half minutes on May 25, 2020, after responding to a report of someone trying to pass a counterfeit $20 at a Minneapolis convenience store. The encounter between Floyd and four police officers — including Chauvin, Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane — was caught on video and shared on social media, sparking protests across the country.

Update 2:25 p.m. EST Dec. 9: At a virtual hearing Friday, prosecutor Matthew Frank said he appreciated that Kueng, 29, pleaded guilty and said that he hoped the resolution of the case would bring peace to Floyd’s family.

“Mr. Kueng is not simply a bystander here,” Frank said, noting that the then-officer kneeled on Floyd to keep him on the pavement on May 25, 2020 “Mr. Kueng was an active part of this.”

Thomas Plunkett, Kueng’s attorney, noted during the court hearing that his client will serve one year in prison “for each day he served the city of Minneapolis as a police officer after completion of his training.”

“He was a three-day rookie,” he said. “It is clear that leadership learned nothing and forgot nothing. They failed Mr. Kueng. They failed Mr. Floyd. And they failed the community.”

Kueng declined to make a statement during the hearing. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder earlier filed against him.

Original report: Kueng, 29, pleaded guilty in October to one count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He was set to be sentenced at a hearing Friday morning but a judge pushed the time of the hearing back after the Federal Bureau of Prisons failed to log into the remote meeting, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

He is instead scheduled to be sentenced Friday afternoon, according to Reuters.

In his plea agreement, Kueng admitted to holding Floyd’s torso as officers restrained him before his death on May 25, 2020. As part of the agreement, prosecutors dropped a charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. He faces a proposed sentence of three and a half years.

Kueng is already serving a three-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights by denying him medical care during the deadly May 2020 encounter. Former police officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane have also been sentenced on charges related to the killing.

Police detained Floyd on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill outside a convenience store in Minneapolis. In video of the encounter, Chauvin could be seen holding his knee to Floyd’s neck and back for more than nine minutes as the 46-year-old struggled to breathe and called for his mother. Kueng and Lane helped to restrain Floyd, while Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening, according to evidence presented in court.

Floyd was pronounced dead after the incident. Last year, a Minnesota jury convicted Chauvin of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for Floyd’s death. Chauvin was subsequently sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. He’s also serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

Thao is awaiting a judge’s verdict in his trial on state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, KARE reported. He is serving a three-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

In September, a judge sentenced Lane to three years in prison for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He is also serving a two-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

Video of Floyd’s death went viral after being posted on social media, sparking global outrage and a national reckoning over racism and police brutality that spawned protests across the country.