Jail for two former police officers for the death of George Floyd

Two former Minneapolis police officers received jail terms Wednesday for violating the civil rights of George Floyd, the black man who died suffocated after his arrest and whose cause sparked protests against racial injustice around the world.

J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced to three years in prison and Tou Thao to three and a half years. Both were found guilty in February of violating Floyd’s civil rights.

The jury found that they both deprived Floyd of medical care and did nothing while Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to press Floyd’s neck to the ground for 9 1/2 minutes.

As Chauvin choked Floyd, Kueng held Floyd from behind, former police officer Thomas Lane held his feet, and Thao held the crowd back during the incident, which was recorded by a bystander.

The federal government charged the four with civil rights violations in May 2021, a month after Chauvin was found guilty of murder.

Chauvin and Lane have already been sentenced for civil rights violations. Chauvin, who last year pleaded guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights and violating the civil rights of a teenager in an unrelated case, was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Lane, who twice asked during the incident if it wasn’t better to let Floyd lie on his side so he could breathe, was found guilty on one count and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail.

The prosecution had asked Judge Paul Magnuson to sentence Kueng and Thao less than Chauvin, but “substantially” longer than Lane.

The proceedings are seen as an attempt by the Justice Department to show that it is prioritizing the issue of racial injustice and police abuse, a promise made by Joe Biden when he was a candidate. They also come just a week after federal prosecutors filed hate crime indictments in the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and announced two in-depth investigations into police methods in two states.

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