Floyd Family Awarded $27 Million Settlement

(KNSI) – George Floyd’s family will receive $27 million after settling a civil suit with the city of Minneapolis.

It’s the largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in U.S. history.

“It sends a message that the unjust taking of Black life will no longer be written off as trivial, unimportant or unworthy of consequences,” Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said. “This settlement is not just historic because of the $27 million paid out, but for the impact on social justice policy reforms and police reforms, because the financial compensation most directly impacts George Floyd and his family … but it is the policy reforms that affect all of us.”

The agreement includes $500,000 to enhance the 38th Street and Chicago Avenue business district where Floyd died.

The legal team also praised Minneapolis’s police reforms after Floyd’s death and pledged support for further reforms.

“The leaders of the city of Minneapolis have demonstrated by their actions and their commitment to equality, justice and humanity — today, they have shown that the life of George Floyd and Black lives matter to them,” Crump said.

Former Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng have been charged in Floyd’s death. They were also listed as defendants in the civil suit.

The complaint stated Floyd was deprived of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

Floyd died May 25, 2020 in the custody of the four former officers, and bystander video captured Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck and back for nearly nine minutes.

Dene Dryden contributed to this report.

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