U.S. former officer sentenced for state charge in death of George Floyd

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A former police officer in Minneapolis of the U.S. state of Minnesota was sentenced on Friday for his role in the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

A Hennepin County Court judge sentenced J. Alexander Kueng to 42 months -- 3.5 years -- in prison for aiding and abetting manslaughter for a state charge.

This sentence will run concurrently with Kueng's federal sentence. He is serving three years in federal prison for violating Floyd's civil rights.

A 46-year-old African American man, Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after an encounter with Minneapolis police, during which officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. Kueng and two other officers were also present and on duty.

Chauvin was sentenced in a federal court to 21 years in prison earlier this summer for violating Floyd's civil rights.

The sentence is running concurrently with Chauvin's state sentence of 22.5 years after he was convicted for second and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter.

Floyd's death sparked outrage and protests across the United States in the summer of 2020 against police brutality and systemic racism.