1 of 5 | J. Alexander Kueng told the jury on Wednesday that George Floyd seemed to have no pain response and that "his behavior went to extreme measures" as police struggled with him before he died on May 25, 2020. File Photo courtesy Hennepin County Sheriff's Office
Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A second former Minneapolis police officer accused in the death of George Floyd will retake the witness stand Thursday at his criminal trial, a day after he told the court that he did what he did during Floyd's arrest because he was following orders.
Former officer J. Alexander Kueng was called by defense attorneys to the stand on Wednesday in the federal trial, which accuses Kueng and two other former Minneapolis officers of violating Floyd's civil rights during his arrest and death in May 2020.
Kueng testified on Wednesday that his struggle to force Floyd into a police vehicle during the arrest was the most difficult he had ever faced. He said his face was slammed into the plexiglass barrier separating the back and front of the police car during the struggle.
Keung and former officers Tou Thao and Thomas Lane are being tried together on the federal civil rights violations. Kueng is the second of the three to take the witness stand. Thao testified earlier this week.
Kueng and Thao are also charged with failure to intervene while former officer Derek Chauvin -- who'd kept his knee pressed to the back of Floyd's neck for almost 10 minutes, resulting in his death -- was using unreasonable force against Floyd. Chauvin was convicted of two counts of murder and one of manslaughter in Floyd's death last April.
Kueng also told the jury Wednesday that Floyd seemed to have no pain response and that "his behavior went to extreme measures" as police struggled with him.
During the arrest, Kueng knelt on Floyd's back, Lane held his legs and Thao warned bystanders to stay back. On Wednesday, Kueng said that he did what he did during the arrest because he was following the orders of Chauvin, a senior officer.
When questioned about his training about a police officer's duty to intervene, Kueng said that it was merely a "mention" and involved only theory with no training on practice.
Earlier this week, Thao testified that he didn't communicate with the other officers when Floyd stopped talking and people at the scene asked police to check Floyd's pulse. He also said that he was taught in training to use his knees to keep a suspect pinned to the ground.
The prosecution rested its case Monday before the defense began presenting its case. It's not yet known if Lane will testify in his own defense.
If convicted, all three officers could face as many as 40 years in prison.
