ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced ex-Minneapolis police Officer J. Alexander Kueng to three years in prison and former Officer Tou Thao to 3 1/2 years on criminal civil rights charges related to the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The sentencings bring to a close the Justice Department's criminal prosecution of the four ex-Minneapolis officers involved in Floyd's death. Earlier this month, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson gave Derek Chauvin a roughly 20-year sentence and sentenced Thomas Lane to 2 1/2 years.
Wednesday offered contrasting hearings in which Floyd's loved ones expressed empathy for Kueng — who was on just his second day of duty the day Floyd died — while Thao unleashed a 23-minute address that quoted heavily from Scripture and hinted at biblical retribution for those who charged him.
