The City of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to the family of George Floyd to settle a civil lawsuit over his death in police custody last year.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved the settlement, which comes as jury selection continues in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with his death.
The settlement is the largest pretrial civil rights settlement ever. Civil rights atorney Ben Crump, who represents the Floyd family, said the settlement “sends a powerful message that Black lives do matter and police brutality against people of color must end.”
“I hope that today will center the voices of the family and anything that they would like to share,” Council President Lisa Bender said. “But I do want to, on behalf of the entire City Council, offer my deepest condolences to the family of George Floyd, his friends and all of our community who are mourning his loss.”
Floyd was declared dead on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, a former officer who is white, pressed his knee against his neck for about nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked global protests over civil rights, police reform, and racial equity, leading to a national reckoning on racial justice.
Floyd’s family filed the civil rights suit in July of 2020, which alleged that Chauvin and three other now-fired officers violated Floyd’s rights when they restrained him, and that the city allowed a culture of excessive force, racism, and impunity to flourish in its police force.
In 2019, Minneapolis agreed to pay $20 million to the family of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an unarmed woman who was shot by an officer after she called 911 to report hearing a possible crime happening behind her home.
The settlement includes $500,000 for the neighborhood where Floyd was arrested.
Jury selection is ongoing in the criminal suit against Derek Chauvin. Six people have been seated — five men and one woman. Three of those seated are white, one is multiracial, one is Hispanic and one is Black, according to Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill.
Potential jurors’ identities are being protected and they are not shown on livestreamed video of the proceedings.
Chauvin faces second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter. The other fired officers face an August trial on aiding and abetting charges. The defense hasn’t said whether Chauvin will testify in his own defense.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
