J Alexander Kueng's school friends can't believe he didn't intervene during George Floyd arrest: 'That’s not who he is'
Former Minneapolis police officer J Alexander Kueng is accused of doing nothing to intervene when one of his colleagues pinned George Floyd to the ground despite pleas that he couldn’t breathe. However, those who have known Kueng from his early days have struggled to attribute that depiction with the person they once knew as a social justice firebrand, the Star Tribune reported.
“It’s almost impossible to put words to it,” said Maria Cowan, who once dated Kueng’s best friend but eventually lost touch with him. “It made me completely further question how people are trained in the police academy, because Alex always was the kind of person who would speak up,” she told the outlet. Kueng's peers from Minneapolis’ Patrick Henry High School recalled how he used to speak up when someone took a joke too far or when students harassed teachers for no reason.
26-year-old Kueng has been described by those who knew him as a “happy-go-lucky” character who easily gelled with a racially diverse group. Classmates and friends recalled his love for soccer, his family and his hometown. And so it was equally surprising for them to learn that Kueng, who identifies as African-American, was one of the officers involved in the fatal arrest of Floyd.
In early June, prosecutors charged Kueng with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter — and those who knew him couldn't digest his new image. “It just makes me sad, because, first of all, the Alex I know — that’s just not who he is,” Kevin Hohn, a teacher who taught Kueng, told the Tribune. “He’s not a monster. He’s not anything like that. He’s really not — not the kid I worked with.”
Kueng showered love on his siblings. Friends described him as a good athlete who was popular in school but had a small circle of intimate friends. “He was quiet, but everybody knew about him,” classmate Benjamin Hunter added. “He didn’t start trouble with anybody.” Hunter, who identifies as Black himself, said their social circles overlapped and included students who were Black, White, Hmong, Latino, as well as Native American. “We were a community of tolerance and peace, despite the city’s reputation," a Hmong classmate, who once worked with Kueng at a Macy’s department store, said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Cowan noted how Kueng was talented at mathematics and science, and was known for helping people. “I had really bad social anxiety... but Alex was good at getting me to talk,” she said. “He would ask me a question on something I could talk about... [and] eventually the others would turn to our conversation and all of a sudden I was included in the whole group."
“It’s taken me a very long time to talk to strangers, and he helped make it a lot easier. And honestly, I don’t think he even knew he was doing that. I think he was just being a good person," Cowan added.
According to Hunter, some of their classmates were upset when Kueng's girlfriend asked for help in bailing him out of prison. “A lot of classmates were like, ‘let him fry'!” Hunter said, adding that he was also disappointed Kuend did nothing to save Floyd. “When Alex was on top of George, I was like, ‘That’s us!’” he said. "You’re the only brother there; you have to step up."
Former classmates and friends still think fondly of Kueng, but believe a thorough investigation is warranted.“It shouldn’t be swept under the rug,” Cowan said. “I’m terribly sorry that this is how events went down, but I wish him the best.”