J. Alexander Kueng was released from jail on bail on Friday — the second officer involved in the killing of George Floyd to pay the massive fee. Kueng’s bail was $750,000, and according to a report by PEOPLE, he was also subject to “bond and conditional release.” The 26-year-old was among the four ex-Minneapolis police officers on the scene when Floyd was killed.
Kueng was reportedly being held in the Hennepin County Jail until Friday, awaiting his next court date on June 29. Officials charged him with aiding and abetting second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony, and second-degree manslaughter with culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk. Kueng and former officer Thomas Lane restrained Floyd’s arms and legs while Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck. So far, Kueng and Lane are the only ones to have posted bail, both paying $750,000.
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A third officer, Tou Thao, stood by and prevented bystanders from intervening in Floyd’s killing. He and Chauvin remain in custody. Thao and Lane reportedly face the same charges — aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
So far, Kueng’s attorney has defended him by emphasizing how new he was to the police force at the time Floyd was killed. He stressed that the 26-year-old officer was only officially on the job for about a week before the incident, and he was expected to defer to Chauvin on everything. However, even Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo has argued that all three officers are “complicit” in Floyd’s death.
“Mr. Floyd died in our hands, and so I see that as being complicit,” Arradondo said in an interview with CNN on May 31. “Silence and inaction — you’re complicit. You’re complicit. If there were one solitary voice that would have intervened … that’s what I would have hoped for. There are absolute truths in life … the killing of Mr. Floyd was an absolute truth that it was wrong. I did not need days or weeks or months or processes or bureaucracies to tell me that what occurred out here last Monday was wrong.”
Lane, 37, has made a similar case for his innocence so far, as he was also in his first week on the job. His family set up a crowdfunding campaign to help cover his legal fees and bail, using a direct PayPal link rather than a GoFundMe or similar service. It was that effort that reportedly paid for Lane, at least, to go free.
