Taylor Kueng

Taylor Kueng, 21, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States experienced police misconduct in 2019. She is African-American.

On May 31, 2019, two African-American men were detained at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis for an open bottle infraction. Kueng and another African-American woman Makala Moore, 20, spoke up against the detainment although they did not know the two men, who were neither charged nor arrested.

Police officers from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office arrested Kueng and Moore. Kueng, who captured the encounter on tape, resisted arrest so an officer threatened her with a Taser and when she asked what she was being arrested for, the officer replied, “Because.”

“Two men take me down, put their knees in my back (and) twist my wrists (while) I’m wearing a dress,” the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder quoted Moore as saying at a press conference on June 14, 2019. She said she and Kueng endured “violent mishandling” in the hands of the police.

Kueng and Moore were charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of the legal process. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Minneapolis supported the two African-American women and called for an apology from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office.

One year later, Minneapolis made headlines due to the fatal arrest of George Floyd. One of the four Minneapolis Police Department officers involved was J Alexander Kueng, 26.

J Alexander does have a sister named Taylor Kueng. However, it has yet to be confirmed whether or not she is the same Taylor Kueng arrested by Hennepin County cops a year ago.

What we know so far is that J Alexander is also African-American and he hails from Minneapolis. He was born on October 8, 1993 to certified registered nurse anesthetic John Dennis Kueng and math teacher Joni L. Kueng.

According to Thomas C. Plunkett, who represents J Alexander, his client grew up with an absentee father and a mother who adopted four more at-risk children. The lawyer said J Alexander never lived more than 10 miles from his childhood home in Minneapolis, KARE 11 quoted the lawyer as saying.

The Taylor Kueng arrested by the Hennepin County police a year ago has been a student worker-office assistant at the Minnesota State University, Mankato since August 2018. She is the president of Black Motivated Women.

In 2017, Taylor was one of the five recipients of the Beat the Odds scholarship awarded by Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, Asian American Press reported. Conan Daily has contacted her for a statement.