Global Courant 2023-04-14 04:01:04
The city of Minneapolis on Thursday agreed to pay nearly $9 million to settle lawsuits filed by two people who said former police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into their necks years before he used the same move to kill George Floyd.
John Pope Jr. receives $7.5 million and Zoya Code $1.375 million. The settlements were announced at a meeting of the Minneapolis City Council.
Both lawsuits stemmed from arrests in 2017 — three years before Chauvin killed Floyd in a videotaped arrest that sparked protests worldwide, sparked a national reckoning on racial injustice and forced a Minneapolis police overhaul.
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At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Jacob Frey apologized to all of Chauvin’s victims, saying that if police supervisors had “done the right thing, George Floyd wouldn’t have been killed.”
“He should have been fired in 2017. He should have been held accountable in 2017,” Frey told reporters.
Both lawsuits named Chauvin and several other officers. The lawsuits alleged police misconduct, excessive force and racism – Pope and Code are Black; Chauvin is white. They also said the city knew Chauvin had a criminal record of misconduct but did not stop him. The criminal charges in both cases were eventually dropped, but Chauvin is in prison for Floyd’s murder.
Bob Bennett, a lawyer for Pope and Code, noted that other officers did not intervene or report Chauvin, and that police chiefs allowed Chauvin to continue working even though they had body camera video evidence of his misdeeds. He said the video is expected to be released soon.
“The easy thing is to blame Chauvin for everything,” Bennett said in a written statement. “The main thing the video shows is that none of those nine to a dozen officers on the scene ever reported it, ever tried to stop it. They violated their own policies and basically any sense of humanity.”
The City of Minneapolis is paying nearly $9 million in legal settlements to individuals before whom former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt prior to his deadly confrontation with George Floyd in 2020. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the department must “again reckon with the deplorable actions of someone who has proven to be a national disgrace”. But he also mentioned “systemic failure” within the police force.
“I am appalled at the repetitive behavior of this coward and disgusted at the passivity and acceptance of that behavior by members of this department. Such behavior is an embarrassment to the badge and an embarrassment to what is truly a most noble profession,” O’ Hara said in a statement.
Code, who has a history of homelessness and mental health problems, was arrested in June 2017 after allegedly trying to strangle her mother with an extension cord. Pope was 14 in September 2017 when, according to his lawsuit, Chauvin subjected him to excessive force while responding to a domestic violence report.
City Councilman Elliott Payne said he hoped the settlements “bring some closure to this era and are a strong reminder of the work ahead.”
The lawsuits said body camera footage showed Chauvin used many of the same tactics on Pope and Code that he used on Floyd. Chauvin was sentenced in 2021 to 22 1/2 years in prison on state murder charges for killing Floyd by pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while begging that he couldn’t breathe. The city also paid $27 million to Floyd’s family.
Code’s lawsuit said she was handcuffed when Chauvin slammed her head into the ground and pressed his knee into her neck for 4 minutes and 41 seconds. A second officer did not intervene and a responding police sergeant approved the force, the lawsuit said.
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According to Pope’s lawsuit, his mother was drunk when she called police because she was upset that he and his 16-year-old sister had left their cell phone chargers plugged in, leading to a physical confrontation. Chauvin allegedly hit Pope on the head at least four times with a large metal flashlight. It says he then put Pope in a choke hold before pinning him to the ground and placing his knee on Pope’s neck.
“Chauvin would keep John in this prone position for over fifteen minutes while John was completely subdued and offered no resistance,” the indictment alleged. “In those minutes, John repeatedly yelled that he couldn’t breathe.”
The complaint alleged that at least eight other officers did nothing to intervene. It said Chauvin did not mention in his report hitting Pope with his flashlight, nor did he mention pinning Pope for so long. Chauvin’s sergeant reviewed and approved his report and use of force “despite knowing firsthand that the report was false and misleading,” the lawsuit alleged.
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Chauvin admitted many of Pope’s accusations when he pleaded guilty to federal charges in December 2021 for violating the civil rights of both Floyd and Pope. He was sentenced to 21 years on those charges in July.
Chauvin is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Arizona.
