A former Minneapolis police officer is expected to be sentenced on Friday (Dec 9) for his involvement in the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed when a fellow police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020.
J Alexander Kueng, who pleaded guilty in October to one count of aiding and abetting manslaughter, is expected to be sentenced to three and a half years in prison during a hearing in Hennepin County District Court at 8.30am local time.
Kueng was one of four officers who were called to a Minneapolis grocery store on May 25, 2020, and tried to take Floyd into custody on suspicion that he used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
During the encounter, the senior officer on the scene, Derek Chauvin, pinned the handcuffed Floyd’s neck to the ground with a knee, causing his death.
Kueng, 29, and fellow officer Thomas Lane helped Chauvin restrain Floyd, while another officer, Tou Thao, kept bystanders from approaching the scene.
