Minneapolis has agreed to pay $9 million to settle lawsuits brought by two people who accused former police officer Derek Chauvin of pressing his knee into their necks years before he did the same and killed George Floyd.
Juan Papa Jr. will receive 7.5 million dollars and Zoya Code will receive 1.375 million dollars, in agreements that were announced during a meeting of the municipality of Minneapolis, in the US state of Minnesota.
Both lawsuits resulted in arrests in 2017, three years before Chauvin killed African-American Floyd during an arrest caught on video that sparked protests around the world.
The lawsuits argued that if the city had acted sooner to discipline Chauvin, “history could have been prevented from repeating itself with George Floyd.”
Bob Bennett, Pope and Code’s attorney, said in a statement that other officers did not intervene or report Chauvin, and police leaders allowed Chauvin to “train and indoctrinate dozens of youth” into the Minneapolis police force.
Elliott Payne, a city council member, said what happened with Code and Pope were flashbacks to what happened with Floyd.
“And it’s not really a Derek Chauvin problem. It’s an institutional problem,” Payne said, hoping the deals “bring closure to this phase and be a reminder of the work that lies ahead.”
Code, who has a history of homelessness and mental health issues, was arrested in June 2017 after allegedly trying to strangle her mother. Pope was 14 years old in September 2017 when, according to her lawsuit, Chauvin subjected him to excessive force while responding to a charge of domestic battery.
Both lawsuits named Chauvin and several other officers, alleging police misconduct, excessive force and racism. Pope and Code are black, while Chauvin is white.
They also argued that the city knew Chauvin had a history of misconduct but failed to arrest him, and criminal charges in both cases were eventually dropped.
According to body cameras, Chauvin used the same techniques on Pope and Code that he used on Floyd.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison on one count of murder in 2021 for killing Floyd, after pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd claimed he couldn’t breathe.
The city also paid $27 million to Floyd’s family.
Source: TSF
