The city of Minéapolis approved a $ 27 million civil settlement on Friday with the family of African-American George Floyd, whose death in May last year when he was detained by police unleashed a wave of racial protests that shook the United States.
The compensation was unanimously approved by the City Council of Minéapolis, who, at the last minute on the agenda of its regular meeting, which took place behind closed doors, deliberated a civil lawsuit against the city and four police officers in the wake of that fact, local media stressed.
“No amount of money can compensate for the intense pain or trauma that this death is causing to George Floyd’s family or to the people of our town,” said Council Chairman Lisa Bender.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020 after being detained on suspicion of attempting to use a counterfeit $ 20 bill in a supermarket.
Now ex-cop Derek Chauvin was filmed by security cameras and cell phones of passersby as he pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, who complained he couldn’t breathe and died of asphyxiation.
The civil accord reached today exceeds the damages the city of Louisville agreed to pay on September 15 last year for the death of young Breonna Taylor, who was gunned down by police in her apartment during a botched operation.
Taylor’s family received $ 12 million.
The agreed amount also exceeds the $ 20 million Minneapolis paid to the family of Justine Damond, a 40-year-old Australian-American woman who died in 2017 as a result of shooting a police officer in that city.
Last Thursday, Judge Peter Cahill charged Chauvin with a new charge, third-degree murder, for Floyd’s death.
Cahill, the Hennepin County district judge, made this decision after the Minnesota Supreme Court decided on Wednesday not to accept an appeal from Chauvin’s defense against this new charge.
Chauvin is now charged with second and third degree murder, and second degree murder.
If the former police officer is convicted of second-degree murder, he can face a prison sentence of 11 to 15 years, although the maximum is 40 years; While the third-degree murder charge can mean 25 years in prison and the second-degree murder charge can mean 10 years, although normally only 5 years are served.
The trial of Chauvin is expected to begin on March 29 with the opening of oral arguments from the defense and the prosecution.
Along with Chauvin, three other former police officers – Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao – have been charged with complicity in murder and second-degree murder, and whose trial is expected to begin next summer. All four have been released on bail.