Ex-Minneapolis cop pleads guilty in George Floyd killing

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Another former Minneapolis police officer has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.

In exchange for J. Alexander Kueng 's guilty plea just as jury selection was to begin Monday, a count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder will be dismissed. Kueng is the second officer to plead guilty to the state charge. Thomas Lane earlier pleaded guilty to the same count. Their former colleague, Tou Thao, is still scheduled to face trial this week.

All three have already been convicted on federal counts of willfully violating the civil rights of Floyd, who was Black. Lane was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the federal case. Kueng was sentenced to three years and Thao was sentenced to 3 1/2, but for some Floyd family members and activists, the penalties were too small.

Floyd, 46, died May 25, 2020, after Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd’s neck as he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. The killing, captured on widely viewed bystander video, sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the globe as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.