Former police officer J. Alexander Kueng sentenced to 3 years for violating George Floyd's civil rights
CBSN
Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for violating George Floyd's civil rights during the videotaped arrest that killed him on May 20, 2020. Another former officer, Tou Thao, is also expected to receive his sentence Wednesday.
They are two of the four ex-officers previously employed by the Minneapolis Police Department who faced charges for their role in Floyd's death. Kueng, Thao and former officer Thomas Lane were found guilty in federal court earlier this year of constitutional violations for what the jury determined was a willful failure to provide necessary aid to Floyd during the arrest despite his obvious need for medical assistance. Lane was recently sentenced to 2 1/2 years.
Former officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes in the bystander video that galvanized global protests against police violence and racism after it surfaced online over two years ago, was convicted on state charges of murder and manslaughter, and then pleaded guilty last year to violating Floyd's civil rights and the civil rights of a teenager in an unrelated case. He was recently sentenced to 21 years in federal prison.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.