City of Minneapolis has on Friday voted unanimously to pay $27m (N10.2bn) to settle a lawsuit filed by George Floyd‘s family against the city and four former police officers involved in the case.
Floyd was declared dead on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, a former officer who is White, pressed his knee against his neck for over five minutes.
The 46-year-old Black man while being pressed down pleaded “I can’t breathe” and bystanders implored the officers to let him go.
Along with Chauvin, two other officers held Floyd to the ground while he was handcuffed. Floyd was arrested on suspicion of his using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a Minneapolis grocery store.
His death sparked worldwide call against racial injustice all around the world and the protests sometimes became violent in Minneapolis and beyond.
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In July, Floyd’s family sued the city and the four police officers charged in his death last May. The suit 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 a statement after the settlement was agreed upon, Floyd’s sister, Bridgett Floyd in a statement said she and her family were “pleased that this part of our tragic journey to justice for my brother George is resolved.”
“While our hearts are broken, we are comforted in knowing that even in death, George Floyd showed the world how to live,” her statement said, according to the Reuters news agency.
In his remark, according to Minneapolis Star Tribune, Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins after the vote said;
This is a deeply traumatic event that, unfortunately, is a part of too many Black and brown families’ realities.
There is no amount of money that can replace a brother, a son, a nephew, a father, a loved one but what we can do is continue to work towards justice and equity and equality in the city of Minneapolis and that’s what I commit to do.
The $27m settlement includes a $500,000 contribution from the Floyd family to the neighborhood where Floyd died.
The settlement comes as jury selection continues in the trial of Chauvin, who was fired from the police force and faces charges of third-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Opening arguments in his trial are expected to begin later this month.
The three other officers involved in Floyd’s killing, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng were also fired and are expected to go on trial together in August. They are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
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A portion of the funds will be returned to the neighborhood where Floyd was arrested — and where bystander video showed Chauvin pinning him by the neck to the pavement.
Jury selection in Chauvin’s criminal trial is ongoing in a Minneapolis courtroom; so far six jurors of the 14 needed have been selected.
