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Ex-Minneapolis Officer Who Kneeled On Floyd's Back Gets 3.5 Year Term

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J. Alexander Kueng, the former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, the Associated Press reports. A charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped. Kueng is serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights; the state and federal sentences will be served at the same time. Kueng appeared at the new sentencing via video from a federal prison in Ohio.


With credit for time served and different parole guidelines in state and federal systems, Kueng will likely serve about 2 1/2 years behind bars. Family attorney Ben Crump said Kueng’s sentencing “delivers yet another piece of justice for the Floyd family." Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe and eventually went limp. The killing, recorded on video by a bystander, sparked worldwide protests amid a broader reckoning over racial injustice. Kueng kneeled on Floyd’s back during the restraint. Prosecutor Matthew Frank said he hoped that the case reaffirms that police officers cannot treat those “who are in crisis as non-people or second-class citizens.”

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