According to ABC News, former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng, who knelt on George Floyd’s back, was given a three and a half year prison term on December 10, 2022.
As part of a deal with prosecutors over his involvement in the fatal May 2020 arrest, 29-year-old Kueng admitted guilt to one count of aiding and abetting a second-degree homicide in October. The officer who had his knee on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced to decades in prison for his part in Floyd’s death.
A second count of aiding and abetting in second-degree unintentional murder will be dismissed as a part of Kueng’s plea deal.
The plea agreement was announced just as jury selection was to begin for a joint state trial for Kueng and another officer, Tou Thao, 34, the outlet reports. Kueng is now the second officer involved in Floyd’s death “to accept responsibility through a guilty plea.”
“J. Alexander Kueng is now the second officer involved in Floyd’s death to accept responsibility through a guilty plea. That acknowledgement hopefully can bring comfort to Floyd’s family and bring our communities closer to a new era of accountability and justice,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in an October statement on the plea deal.
Numerous demonstrations against systematic racism and police brutality followed the death of George Floyd, and renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump expressed the hope that law enforcement would take note of Floyd’s death and the accompanying 9-minute video documenting his final moments.
“We must never forget the horror of what we all saw in that 9-minute video, and that there rightfully should be both accountability for all involved as well as deep lessons learned for police officers and communities everywhere,” said the legal team for George Floyd’s family, led by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, in an October statement on Kueng’s plea deal in October.
