The city of Minneapolis has settled a civil suit with the family of George Floyd for a record $27 million.
The settlement was unanimously approved by the Minneapolis City Council on Friday. It’s the largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in American history.
“When George Floyd was horrifically killed on May 25, 2020, it was a watershed moment for America,” Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing the Floyd family, said at a press conference with city Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and members of Floyd’s family on Friday afternoon. “It was one of the most egregious and shocking documentations of an American citizen being tortured to death by a police officer … having his knee on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.”
Crump filed the civil complaint last July against Minneapolis and the four police officers who were involved with Floyd’s death, arguing that the police department had “frequently” failed “to terminate or discipline officers who demonstrate patterns of misconduct.”
As captured by graphic cellphone footage, Floyd, 46, died on May 25 after former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, even after Floyd was unconscious. Floyd pleaded with Chauvin multiple times, saying that he couldn’t breathe before becoming unresponsive; he was later pronounced dead at an area hospital.
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