J Alexander Kueng: Disgraced Minneapolis ex-cop who helped restrain George Floyd pleads guilty
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: J Alexander Kueng, a former Minneapolis police officer, charged with aiding and abetting the killing of George Floyd has pleaded guilty to state charges in the case on October 24. He specifically said he was 'culpably negligent' and 'created an unreasonable risk'. The plea deal makes him “the second officer involved in Floyd’s death to accept responsibility through a guilty plea.”
Keung's attorney, Thomas Plunkett, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune they had reached a negotiated settlement with prosecutors to dismiss a count of second-degree unintentional murder. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison stated, “That acknowledgment hopefully can bring comfort to Floyd’s family and bring our communities closer to a new era of accountability and justice." The other officer, Tou Thao, waived his right to a jury proceeding and prosecutors announced that he will have his fate decided by a judge at a bench trial, reported New York Post. His case is the final unresolved prosecution in Floyd’s death. Thao told a judge in August that pleading guilty would be a “lie and a sin”.
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On May 25, 2020, 46-year-old Floyd was killed after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes as he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground. The victim exclaimed repeatedly during that time that he could not breathe. The killing was caught on a bystander’s phone camera, and Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced in June 2021 to 22 years in prison. He later pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he had violated Floyd’s civil rights and is serving 21 years concurrently for that in a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.
Besides Chauvin, a trio of officers were also present at the incident during that time. Kueng, who is Black, knelt on Floyd’s back, and Thao, a Hmong American, acted as a human barricade between bystanders who questioned the police action and Floyd pinned to the ground. Another police officer, Thomas Lane, restrained Floyd on the ground by his legs.
Kueng, Lane and Thao were convicted on federal charges in February. The disgraced officers were hit with sentences ranging from 30 months to 42 months behind bars in the federal cases. Lane was found guilty of the federal charges and pleaded guilty in state court in May. He has been sentenced to three years for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and 2.5 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Thao was convicted of federal charges that he violated Floyd’s civil rights by depriving him of medical care and failing to try to stop Chauvin’s killing him. If found guilty, he could face a sentence of up to 12.5 years in prison.
“It is great to bring these matters to a just conclusion,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement Monday. “This is true for all concerned parties, including Mr. Floyd’s family, the potential witnesses and the community, as well as for public safety.”