Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,156,518 members, 7,830,535 topics. Date: Friday, 17 May 2024 at 02:34 AM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Crime / A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing (505 Views)
Ex-officer Derek Chauvin, convicted In George Floyd’s killing, stabbed In prison / Yahoo Boy Corper Convicted For $150 Fraud / Nigerian Among Three Arrested For Drug Peddling In India (2) (3) (4)
A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing by nairalander2020(m): 10:37pm On Jun 28, 2020 |
One of the black police officers at the scene of the
killing of George Floyd by a white officer in
Minneapolis in May has a Nigerian father.
Alex Kueng who joined the police largely because he
believed diversity could force change in a Police
Department long accused of racism,
New York Times reported that Mr Floyd, whose name
has been painted on murals and scrawled on protest
signs, has been laid to rest. Mr Kueng, who faces
charges of aiding and abetting in Mr Floyd’s death,
is out on bail, hounded at the supermarket by
strangers and denounced by some family members.
Long before Mr Kueng was arrested, he had wrestled
with the issue of police abuse of black people,
joining the force in part to help protect people close
to him from police aggression. He argued that
diversity could force change in a Police Department
long accused of racism.
He had seen one sibling arrested and treated poorly,
in his view, by sheriff’s deputies. He had found
himself defending his decision to join the police
force, saying he thought it was the best way to fix a
broken system. He had clashed with friends over
whether public demonstrations could actually make
things better.
“He said, ‘Don’t you think that that needs to be
done from the inside?’” his mother, Joni Kueng,
recalled him saying after he watched protesters block a
highway years ago. “That’s part of the reason why he
wanted to become a police officer — and a black
police officer on top of it — is to bridge that gap
in the community, change the narrative between the
officers and the black community.”
As hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated
against the police after Mr Floyd’s killing on May 25,
Mr Kueng became part of a national debate over
police violence toward black people, a symbol of the
very sort of policing he had long said he wanted to
stop.
Derek Chauvin, the officer who placed his knee on Mr
Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, has been
most widely associated with the case. He faces
charges of second-degree murder and second-degree
manslaughter; Mr Kueng and two other former officers
were charged with aiding and abetting the killing. At
26, Mr Kueng was the youngest and least experienced
officer at the scene, on only his third shift as a full
officer.
The arrest of Mr Kueng, whose mother is white and
whose father was from Nigeria, has brought anguish to
his friends and family. “It’s a gut punch,” Ms Kueng
said. “Here you are, you’ve raised this child, you
know who he is inside and out. We’re such a racially
diverse family. To be wrapped up in a racially
motivated incident like this is just unfathomable.”
Two of Mr Kueng’s siblings, Taylor and Radiance,
both of whom are African-American, called for the
arrests of all four officers, including their brother.
They joined protests in Minneapolis.
|
Re: A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing by chukwuibuipob: 10:39pm On Jun 28, 2020 |
Re: A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing by ojun50(m): 10:42pm On Jun 28, 2020 |
Op carry ur problem go US |
Re: A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing by JAOS(m): 10:45pm On Jun 28, 2020 |
fake news |
Re: A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing by Geminita1(f): 10:50pm On Jun 28, 2020 |
He is cute. |
Re: A Nigerian Among Officers Convicted For George Floyd Killing by kabillionaire(m): 1:04am On Jun 29, 2020 |
damage control. |
(1) (Reply)
BREAKING: Boko Haram Unleash Havoc On Federal Troops - INDEPENDENT.NG / Man Batters Wife Until She’s Unable To Move [VIDEO] / Police Cannot End SARS, Says DCP Frank Mba
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 10 |