The black cop accused of helping and encouraging the murder of George Floyd dreamed of transforming the police, according to friends and family.
J. Alexander Kueng, 26, was a rookie cop on his third shift as a full-fledged member of the Minneapolis Police Force when he held Floyd from the back while Senior Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the black man’s neck during almost nine minutes.
Since then, Kueng has been fired, charged in connection with the murder, and denounced by some of his brothers for failing to intervene in Floyd’s death.
However, before joining the force, Kueng, who has a white mother and a Nigerian father, hoped to change the police from the inside and believed that more black officers would help change the abuses he saw in the system.
His family has described his involvement in Floyd’s death as an “instinctive blow.”
Former police officer J Alexander Kueng is accused of aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd (pictured above), but his family says he wanted to change the police force.
Kueng, 26, had become a full member of the force three days before Floyd’s death.
George Floyd, pictured, died May 25 in police custody after an officer knelt on his neck.
“He said,” Don’t you think that should be done from the inside? “” His mother, Joni Kueng, told the New York Times.
“ That’s part of the reason I wanted to become a police officer, and a black police officer on top of that, is to close that gap in the community, to change the narrative between the officers and the black community.
“It is a gut hit,” he added.
‘Here you are, you have raised this child, you know who he is inside and out. We are a racially diverse family. Being involved in a racially motivated incident like this is simply unfathomable.
‘I had to stay out of the race talks because I was the minority at home.
‘It didn’t really matter, but they do care because they are African-American. And therefore they had to be able to have an outlet to tell their stories and their experience as well, especially having a white mother. ”
As protests erupted across the country following the release of the video showing Floyd’s death on May 25, those calling for Kueng’s arrest included two of his adoptive brothers, Taylor and Radiance, both 21 years old. .
“I don’t care if it was her third day on the job or not,” her sister Radiance told the New York Times.
“He knows the right thing from the wrong thing.”
Radiance said that as a black man, his brother should have intervened and is considering changing his last name so that it is no longer associated with him.
Kueng’s friends also believe that he should have intervened and have said they were sad when he decided to join the force.
J. Alexander Kueng is accused of aiding and abetting second-degree murder
“I am very sad and very disappointed,” childhood friend Darrow Jones told the Times.
‘Many of us believe that he should have intervened and should have done something.
‘It is very difficult. Because I have those feelings and I won’t say I don’t have them, ” she added.
‘But even though I feel sad about what happened, he still has my unwavering support. Because we grew up together and I love him. ‘
Jones said he had begun to become more distant from Kueng once he made the decision to join the force, as he did not believe that the system could be changed from within as it did.
He said that Kueng did not have the same understanding of being black as he had lighter skin.
“Once we got to Utah, we walked into a store and literally everyone was looking at us,” Jones said.
‘I said,’ Alex, that’s because you’re walking here with a black person. The reason they’re looking at us is because you’re here with me. ‘
“It was very clear where we were standing on that,” Jones added of the police force.
‘Our fundamental disagreement over law enforcement is not that I believe that police officers are bad people. I just think that the system needs to be completely removed and replaced. It is the difference between reform and reconstruction. ‘
Keung, pictured above right while trying to arrest Floyd, believed that more black police officers would help change the system and joined the police force in hopes of doing good.
Despite criticism from friends and family, Kueng signed up as a police cadet in February 2019, but in just a few months, his brother Taylor had an encounter with some sheriff’s deputies.
Although Kueng watched a video of the incident and criticized the officers, he claimed that the police force in the city he joined was different.
He graduated in December 2019 and while in field training, his supervisor was Officer Derek Chauvin, the man now charged with the Floyd murder.
Chauvin declined Kueng’s field training because he believed he would meet with another training officer Thomas Lane, 37, too often to answer the calls.
Lane would become Kueng’s partner when he answered Floyd’s call on May 25 and is also accused of aiding and abetting the murder.
Despite the setback, Kueng became an officer on May 22, one of 80 black officers in the 900-person Minneapolis police force.
Just three days later, he was answering a call about an alleged attempt by a black man to use a counterfeit ticket and find George Floyd in his car.
After he and Lane were unable to get Floyd into the squad car, his 19-year-old training officer Chauvin, and a fourth officer, Tou Thao, arrived on the scene in a separate police vehicle.
When the four officers tried to carry Floyd into the back of the patrol, Floyd told them that he couldn’t breathe.
Chauvin then pulled Floyd out of the car in handcuffs, forcing him to fall facedown on the ground.
Kueng applied knees to Floyd’s back; Lane held his legs up; and Chauvin forced his left knee down on Floyd’s neck.
Over the next eight minutes and 46 seconds, Floyd yelled several times that he “couldn’t breathe,” pleading with the officers to leave him, and even calling his late ‘Mama’ to help him.
After telling the officers that he was “about to die,” Floyd finally lost consciousness and would never regain it.
Minneapolis police rookie Lane had asked Chauvin if he should put Floyd on his side to help him breathe better. Chauvin replied ‘No. Staying where we got it. ‘
Images from the police corps camera have not yet been made publicly available, because the FBI is investigating it.
Former police officers have said that body camera images will “prove” that there was a fight.
On Friday, May 29, Chauvin was arrested by police and the Hennepin County District Attorney charged him with third-degree murder.
His charges were later elevated to second-degree murder after intense national scrutiny and hundreds of protests in all 50 U.S. states.
Derek Chauvin (left) is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree murder in connection with the death (right) of George Floyd, on bail of $ 1.25 million.
The other three officers involved in the arrest of Floyd, Kueng, Lane and Thao, were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree killings.
Lane and Kueng are currently on $ 750,000 bail, while Chauvin and Thao remain in police custody.
Chauvin, Kueng, Lane and Thao were fired from the police department after Floyd’s death.
Immediately after Floyd’s death, Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the world.
While most of the protests remained peaceful, buildings, businesses, and police departments have been burned after some protests turned violent in major U.S. cities.
Protesters have not only demanded justice for Floyd, but have demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and, most recently, Rayshard Brooks.
Protesters also marched for Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot dead by a white man in Georgia in February.
Floyd was buried June 9 in Houston, Texas.
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