Minneapolis Reaches Historic $27 Million Settlement With George Floyd’s Family

By Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer

March 12, 2021

The city of Minneapolis has reached a $27 million settlement agreement with the family of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by police last May. His death sparked widespread demonstrations and riots across the city, cries for racial justice and catalyzed a movement to defund police across the country.

The City Council unanimously approved the agreement on Friday, the largest settlement in the city’s history. As part of the agreement, $500,000 will be used “for the benefit of the community around 38th Street and Chicago Avenue,” where Floyd died.

“This is a deeply traumatic event that unfortunately is a part of too many Black and brown families’ realities,” said Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins, who represents the area where Floyd was killed. “No amount of money can replace a brother, a son, a nephew, a father, a loved one. What we can do is continue to work toward justice.”

The Floyd family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, filed a civil lawsuit against the city and the four officers in July.

“George Floyd’s horrific death, witnessed by millions of people around the world, unleashed a deep longing and undeniable demand for justice and change,” Crump said in a statement. “That the largest pre-trial settlement in a wrongful death case ever would be for the life of a Black man sends a powerful message that Black lives do matter and police brutality against people of color must end.”

Members of the Floyd family have scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. to discuss the case with Crump.

The previous record settlement for a police killing was set in 2019 when the city agreed to pay out $20 million to the family of Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman who was shot and killed in 2017 by a Minneapolis police officer after calling 911 to report hearing an assault.

The city of Minneapolis is self-insured, meaning the settlement will be paid directly out of the city budget.

News of the settlement comes as a jury selection continues in the murder trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for around nine minutes as he said he couldn’t breathe and then went motionless.

Chauvin faces charges of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers involved in Floyd’s death — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter and are scheduled to stand trial beginning in August.

On Friday, the City Council also moved forward a proposal to eliminate the police department and replace it with a new department of public safety under the control of the City Council rather than the mayor. The proposed charter amendment will next be considered by the city’s Charter Commission, an unelected body charged with reviewing changes to the city’s charter, which acts like a constitution.

The Charter Commission’s approval is not required for the City Council to decide to put the amendment before voters in November. The City Council tried last year to put a similar measure on the 2020 ballot but was thwarted by the Charter Commission, which chose to take more time considering the proposal, effectively blocking it from reaching the ballot.

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