Sylvie Claire / Mars 14, 2021
The family of George Floyd, an African-American man who died during his May 2020 arrest, will receive $27 million in damages after reaching a settlement with the city of Minneapolis, lawyers for his relatives announced Friday.
This settlement is the largest in the history of the United States in a fundamental rights proceeding brought for a wrongful death, they explained i
n a statement. George Floyd's family filed a civil suit in June 2020 against the city and the four police officers involved in his death. The criminal trial of one of them, Derek Chauvin, who asphyxiated George Floyd with his knee while pinning him to the ground, opened Tuesday in Minneapolis. The other three officers will be tried later. The death of George Floyd provoked an unprecedented movement of anger since the 1960s in the United States against racism and police violence, which has spread around the world, with demonstrations shouting Black Lives Matter (black lives matter).
The horrific death of George Floyd, seen by millions of people around the world, has unleashed a profound demand for justice and change, said one of the lawyers, Ben Crump, in a statement. This agreement sends a strong message that black lives matter and that police brutality against people of color must stop, he added. George Floyd's brother, Rodney, said the agreement was a necessary step to allow the family to grieve. The memory of George, for those who loved him, will always be his optimism that things can work out, and we hope this agreement will, he added. Part of the money will go towards the development of the neighborhood where George Floyd died, which has become the focal point for events in his memory. Police are not welcome there and there have been several shootings in recent months. The lawyers also welcomed the decision by Minneapolis City Hall to transform its police force to create a new model for public safety. After being identified with George Floyd for tragic reasons, Minneapolis will be remembered for its progressive changes that can lead the country to reflect on how to reform and transform the relationship between the police and communities of color, said Antonio Romanucci. Crump had already negotiated a historic agreement with the city of Louisville, which agreed last September to pay $12 million to the family of a young African-American woman, Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home during a police raid.