Thursday, 26 Sep 2024

George Floyd death: Trainee officer charged over arrest tried to object, court told

One of the four former Minneapolis officers charged over George Floyd’s death tried to warn his fellow officers during the arrest, a court has heard.

J. Alexander Kueng hadn’t yet completed his third full shift as a police officer when the deadly arrest occurred, his lawyer Tom Plunkett claimed.

Mr Plunkett said Kueng allegedly told his fellow officers as they were detaining George Floyd: “You shouldn’t do that.”

Kueng was in court on Thursday along with former officers Tou Thao and Thomas Lane after being charged with aiding and abetting murder, as well as aiding and abetting manslaughter.

A fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, was charged with second-degree murder after video showed him placing his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while detaining him on 25 May.

Lane was also new to the job, only on the force for four days when the incident occurred, his lawyer Earl Gray claimed.

Mr Gray said that Lane twice asked Chauvin, a training officer: “Shall we roll him over?” He also expressed concern that Mr Floyd may be in “delirium.”

“What is my client supposed to do other than follow what the training officer said?” Gray said in court.

A judge ordered Kueng, Lane and Thao each an unconditional bail of $1m (£790,000) compounded with $750,000 (£595,450) of conditional bail. No pleas were entered.

All four of the former officers face a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, according to the criminal complaints.

Multiple videos have been released on Mr Floyd’s arrest, with one showing him pinned down by three different officers near a patrol car while a fourth stands near his head.

“Please, please, please, I can’t breathe,” Mr Floyd begged in one video caught by a bystander. “My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Please, please. I can’t breathe.”

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