Settlement in George Floyd’s family Wrongful-death Lawsuit Against the City

In March, following a closed session, the City Council approved, and the Mayor has committed to support, paying $27 million to George Floyd’s family as a settlement in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by them against the City.

This is the highest settlement amount the City has ever paid and is more than the $20 million paid to the family of Justine Damond, who was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2017. With this settlement, Minneapolis has now paid more than $72 million to settle lawsuits related to police misconduct and violence since 2003.

This is a stark and powerful reminder of our flawed and failed system of providing public safety for the people of Minneapolis. The current structure and system of policing is broken. It is morally indefensible and fiscally irresponsible to allow the status quo to continue.

I stand with the Floyd family in calling for, and working for, real action to ensure that horrific tragedies, like the killing of George Floyd, are not repeated and that we can dismantle the institutionalized racism in our policing and criminal justice system.

At the press conference one of the family’s attorneys said, “History will judge us by how we respond to this tragedy….and history won’t judge us just on the eloquence of our words, but by the power of our actions.”

So now, we need to act. Let us act to change the racist culture that too often permeates our city, our neighborhoods, and our homes. Let us act to make meaningful and lasting legislative and policy change at the national, state and local levels. Let us pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the United States Congress. Let’s build on the successful work at the state legislature last year and continue the work on police accountability and repairing the arbitration process. And let’s pass the Public Safety Charter amendment and a new and more effective Police Oversight Ordinance this year in Minneapolis.

To help, I encourage everyone to watch the full and lengthy press conference where some of these issues are called out by members of the Floyd family’s legal team athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoIbKrMmIR0

I invite you to see the payments the City has made as part of officer conduct claims and lawsuits athttps://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/government-data/datasource/officer-payouts-dashboard/

You can learn more about the federal bill, H.R.7120 - George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020, that was referenced several times at the press conference, at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7120