Minneapolis is paying $9 million in damages for claims from former police officer who killed George Floyd

Minneapolis agreed to pay $9 million to settle lawsuits brought by two people who accused former police officer Derek Chauvin of pressing his knee to their necks years before he did the same and killed George Floyd.

John Pope Jr. will receive $7.5 million and Zoya Code $1.375 million in deals announced at a meeting of the Minneapolis City Council, Minnesota.

Both lawsuits resulted in arrests in 2017, three years before Chauvin killed African-American Floyd in a videotaped arrest 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.”

Pope and Code’s attorney Bob Bennett noted in a statement that other officers did not intervene or report Chauvin, and that police chiefs allowed Chauvin to “train and indoctrinate dozens of youths” into the Minneapolis Police Department.

Elliott Payne, a member of the city council, said what happened to Code and Pope are memories of what happened to Floyd.

“And it’s not really a Derek Chauvin problem. It’s an institutional problem,” Payne said, hoping the agreements “close this phase somewhat and be a reminder of the work ahead.”

Code, who has a history of homelessness and mental health problems, was arrested in June 2017 after allegedly trying to strangle her mother. Pope was 14 in September 2017 when, according to his lawsuit, Chauvin subjected him to excessive force while responding to a household battery charge.

In both lawsuits, Chauvin and several other officers were charged with 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 wrongdoing but did not stop him, and criminal charges in both cases were eventually dropped.

According to bodycams, Chauvin used the same techniques on Pope and Code that he used on Floyd.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on a 2021 murder charge for killing Floyd, after pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes while Floyd claimed he couldn’t breathe.

The city also paid $27 million to Floyd’s family.