Minneapolis to pay George Floyd's family $27m in police custody death lawsuit

The city of Minneapolis has agreed to pay $27m to settle a civil lawsuit with the family of George Floyd, even as jury selection was under way in the murder trial of the former police of the former police officer, Derek Chauvin, who killed him.

The city council unanimously approved the settlement on Friday. The council emerged from closed session to announce the move, which includes $500,000 for the neighborhood where Floyd was arrested.

The Floyd family attorney, Ben Crump, said in a prepared statement that it was the largest pre-trial civil rights settlement ever in a wrongful death lawsuit, and “sends a powerful message that Black lives do matter and police brutality against people of color must end”.

Floyd, who was Black, was declared dead on 25 May 2020 after Derek Chauvin, a former police officer who is white, pressed his knee against his neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked mass protests in Minneapolis and across the US and led to a national reckoning on racial justice.