Police body-worn camera footage shows then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of John Pope. Chauvin was convicted in April 2021 for murdering George Floyd in May 2020 by putting his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. The city of Minneapolis has agreed to pay Pope $7.5 million. (Image via Robins Kaplan LLP.)
The city of Minneapolis has agreed to settle the longstanding lawsuits of two people, including a 14-year-old, who were brutalized by former police officer Derek Chauvin, the convicted murderer of George Floyd.
John Pope and Zoya Code sued Chauvin separately in 2022 for injuries stemming from encounters with the disgraced officer several years prior. In those confrontations, Chauvin exhibited the same behavior as he had on May 25, 2020, when he was filmed pinning his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Video of the incident showed bystanders pleading for Chauvin to stop as Floyd’s pleas grew quiet. His death sparked months of protests worldwide demanding accountability for police brutality against Black people. Chauvin was convicted of murder in state court and pleaded guilty to two federal charges for violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to decades behind bars.
Now, the city where Chauvin once served as a police officer has agreed to settle Pope’s and Code’s civil cases against him for a total of nearly $9 million. The plaintiffs in both cases, like Floyd, are Black and were unarmed when Chauvin, who is white, pinned them down by pressing his knee on their necks.
