George Floyd’s Family Files Civil Lawsuit Against Minneapolis & Police

The family of George Floyd has reportedly filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and its police department.

“This is a crisis in Black America — a public health crisis,” Civil Rights attorney Benjamin Crump told reporters. “While all of America is dealing with the public health crisis of the coronavirus pandemic, Black America has to deal with another public health pandemic of police brutality.”

The lawsuit alleges that on May 25, four Minneapolis police officers — Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng — violated Floyd’s Fourth Amendment rights with the “excessive use of unjustified, excessive, illegal and deadly force.”

“This complaint shows what we have said all along, that Mr. Floyd died because the weight of the entire Minneapolis Police Department was on his neck,” Crump said in a statement. “The city of Minneapolis has a history of policies, procedures and deliberate indifference that violates the rights of arrestees, particularly Black men, and highlights the need for officer training and discipline.”