MINNEAPOLIS — Former Minneapolis police Officer J. Alexander Kueng told a federal jury Wednesday he'd never encountered such a struggle as when he tried to push George Floyd into a squad car on May 25, 2020.
Floyd pushed back, slamming his own face onto plexiglass that sectioned the back of the squad car, Kueng testified in St. Paul's federal courthouse, offering his public recounting of the events of that day for the first time.
"His behavior just went to extreme measures," said Kueng. "He started shaking very violently."
Floyd seemed to have no pain response, and Kueng said he wondered if Floyd suffered from excited delirium, like they'd been trained on in the academy.
"I felt I had no control," he said. "I felt like any moment he could shove me off."
Kueng, 28, is on trial, along with ex-Officers Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, on charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights during the fatal encounter. He is the second officer to testify in his own defense after Thao took the stand Tuesday and Wednesday.
With a cleanly shaved head and neat suit, Kueng responded to each question with concise answers, addressing the lawyers as "sir" or "ma'am."
Kueng said the call to Cup Foods seemed routine when it first came in as a suspected forgery and a man who may be standing on top of a car. But when he and his partner, Lane, arrived at the market, it quickly escalated into a hectic situation. Kueng said it worried him when Floyd wouldn't show his hands. Then he was acting "erratically," dropping to the ground in the middle of the street without caution for the car moving toward them, Kueng said.
His attorney, Thomas Plunkett, asked if he heard Floyd say he was claustrophobic.
"Yes, sir," said Kueng. But he didn't believe it made sense, given Floyd had just been sitting in a smaller vehicle than the squad. He suspected Floyd may be on drugs, Kueng said.
In May 2020, Kueng was new to the force and though policy dictated the first squad on scene is in control, everyone knew "it's always the senior officer" in practice, Kueng said, adding that in this case, that meant Derek Chauvin, his recent training officer.
He described Chauvin, who has already pleaded guilty to civil rights violations, as very quiet, by the book, knowledgeable and commanding of respect from other officers, who would defer to him on what to do on scenes. "Fair but tough," said Kueng, in perhaps the most detailed description on record of Chauvin's personality. Chauvin was convicted of murder by a jury last year and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison in state court last year, but did not take the stand on his own behalf.
Under direct questioning, Kueng talked about growing up in north Minneapolis, the oldest of five children, son of a Black father and white mother. He went to Sheridan Elementary School and graduated from Patrick Henry High School before enrolling in college in New Rochelle, New York, to play soccer.
But he tore his ACL and returned home to Minnesota, eventually completing a four-year degree at the University of Minnesota in sociology and criminology. He worked in security and loss prevention at Macy's on Nicollet Mall and became a community service officer with the Minneapolis Police Department shortly before the 2018 Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Like most people in his home neighborhood, Kueng said, "I was not a fan of police whatsoever" while growing up. He said police once "berated my mother," not going into detail, but remarking that the incident "rubbed me the wrong way." Kueng said he decided to become an officer to do a better job for his community.
Plunkett repeatedly drew attention to the military-style training of police in Minneapolis, starting with Kueng's education for becoming a community service officer.
"Sounds to me you were trained to walk and talk like a soldier," the lawyer said.
"Very much so," Kueng said.
Chauvin served as Kueng's training officer for longer than was normal, he said, and he deferred to Chauvin once he arrived on the Cup Foods scene.
Kueng, who is seen holding Floyd by the legs in video from that night, said he intentionally restrained him below the waist to stop his legs from flailing. His training said "the hips are very important for generating power, and ultimately I wanted to avoid the spine."
He said he checked Floyd's pulse and found none, so he informed Chauvin, who he expected to take action. When paramedics arrived, he said, they didn't seem to be in a rush, which made him second-guess whether he had overestimated the level of medical emergency, Kueng said.
Before Kueng took the stand, his mother Joni Kueng testified briefly about how he was the peacekeeper among the siblings in the family.
Earlier in the day, former Officer Thao, 36, took the stand under cross examination for a second day, saying again how he was focused on crowd control and never touched Floyd.
Assistant U.S. Attorney LeeAnn Bell asked Thao if he had communicated to his partners that Floyd had "stopped speaking, went unconscious and that you had gotten requests from the crowd to check his pulse?"
Thao responded, "How would I know all those things?"
Bell said, "I'm asking if you communicated about any of that."
Thao responded, "No."
Thao said that it was important to restrain Floyd until paramedics arrived because Thao believed Floyd had taken drugs, was experiencing excited delirium and might revive and become violent.
Multiple times, he referred to a "19-year veteran" knowing how to care for Floyd. That was a reference to Chauvin, his partner that day.
Bell asked if Thao was in a position to talk to the officers about the restraint on Floyd, who had stopped speaking seconds before Thao told a bystander that someone who was talking could breathe.
Bell said, "You could have called out to your partners from where you were standing."
Thao responded, "It's a possibility."
Lane is expected to testify before the conclusion of this trial, now in its fourth week of testimony.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes while Kueng and Lane helped pin Floyd stomach-down in the street. Floyd's hands were handcuffed behind his back.
Before court started Wednesday, Judge Paul Magnuson announced that an alternate juror had been excused because he was ill, but not from COVID-19. That leaves four remaining alternates.
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