Minneapolis To Pay $27 Million To Settle Suit With George Floyd's Family - Forbes

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Topline

The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously Friday to pay the family of George Floyd $27 million to settle a lawsuit against the city over his death last year in police custody, which sparked massive protests during 2020 as part of a national reckoning over police violence.

Key Facts

Mayor Jacob Frey (D) plans to sign the settlement, which was approved 13-0 by the city council, according to the Star Tribune.

The Floyd family’s attorney, Ben Crump, said the settlement is the “largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in U.S. history.”

As part of the settlement, $500,000 has also been allocated to “be used for the benefit of the community around 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis”—the intersection where Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020.

Floyd’s family filed the lawsuit against the city in July 2020.

What To Watch For

Jury selection is under way for the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who’s been charged with second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death.

Crucial Quote

"This historic agreement, the largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in U.S. history, makes a statement that George Floyd's life mattered and by extension that Black lives matter," Crump said. "It sends the message that the unjust taking of a Black life will no longer be written off as trivial, unimportant, or unworthy of consequences."

Key Background

The preparations for Chauvin’s trial come almost 10 months after Floyd’s death. Video showed a Minneapolis police officer prosecutors say is Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds ignoring the Black man’s pleas which included, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death sparked outrage and protests across the country against police brutality, and led some cities to cut funding to police departments.

Tangent

In September, Louisville, Kentucky, agreed to pay Breonna Taylor’s family $12 million after the Black woman was shot and killed by police after they broke into her home to conduct a raid.