Floyd family, Minneapolis agree to $27M
Lawyer lauds size of pretrial settlement
MINNEAPOLIS — The city of Minneapolis on Friday agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over the Black man’s death in police custody, as jury selection continued in a former officer’s murder trial.
Council members met privately to discuss the settlement, then returned to public session for a unanimous vote in support of the massive payout. It easily surpassed the $20 million the city approved two years ago to the family of a white woman killed by a police officer.
Floyd family attorney Ben Crump called it the largest pretrial settlement ever for a civil rights claim and thanked city leaders for “showing you care about George Floyd.”
“It’s going to be a long journey to justice. This is just one step on the journey to justice,” Mr. Crump said. “This makes a statement that George Floyd deserved better than what we witnessed on May 25, 2020; that George Floyd’s life mattered; and that by extension, Black lives matter.”
“Even though my brother is not here, he’s here with me in my heart,” Philonise Floyd said. “If I could get him back, I would give all this back.”
L. Chris Stewart, another attorney who worked with the family, said the size of the settlement “changes evaluations and civil rights for a Black person when they die.”
“And what happens is that trickles down to decisions in the
communities across this country. When there is a city council or a mayor deciding, ‘ Oh, should we get rid of no-knock warrants, should we get rid of choke holds, do we want to change these policies?’ They have 27 million reasons now why they should. And that will make decisions happen. That will make accountability happen.”
The settlement includes $500,000 for the south Minneapolis neighborhood that includes the 38th and Chicago intersection that has been blocked by barricades since his death, with a massive metal sculpture and murals in his honor. The city didn’t immediately say how that money would be spent.
Floyd was declared dead on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against his neck for about nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked sometimes violent protests in Minneapolis and beyond and led to a national reckoning on racial justice.
City Council President Lisa Bender choked up as she addressed a news conference about the settlement, saying she knew “no amount of money” could bring Floyd back.
“I just want you to know how deeply we are with you,” she said to Floyd’s family members.
Floyd’s family filed the federal civil rights lawsuit in July against the city, Mr. Chauvin and three other fired officers charged in his death. It alleged the 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, to settle her family’s civil rights lawsuit. Damond was white.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the settlement might affect the trial or the jury now being seated to hear it. Mr. Crump said the settlement is a way “to help shape what justice looks like” rather than waiting for a result from a legal system that many Blacks distrust.
“The one thing we know as Black people ... is there is no guarantee that a police officer will be convicted for killing a Black person unjustly in our country,” Mr. Crump said. “That’s what history has taught us.”
Mr. Stewart said the civil case “doesn’t have anything to do with” the trial.
“Justice doesn’t really wait,” he said. “It happens when it happens and it happened today.”
Ted Sampsell- Jones, a criminal law expert at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said it’s additional pretrial publicity that is “bad for the defense” and could lead some jurors to think guilt has already been decided.
“However, this ultimately should not affect the criminal case,” Mr. Sampsell-Jones said. “There has already been a ton of pretrial publicity — some of it bad for the prosecution, some of it bad for the defense. All we can do is hope that the jurors will follow Judge Cahill’s instructions and decide the case based solely on the evidence presented at trial.”
Mr. Crump and others at the news conference called for any protests during Mr. Chauvin’s trial to be peaceful. Minneapolis is on edge for potential violence if Mr. Chauvin is acquitted, with concrete barriers, fencing and barbed wire encircling the courthouse and the National Guard already mobilized.