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Minneapolis City Council approves settlement for another lawsuit against ex-officer Derek Chauvin

Minnesota tax payers on the hook for Derek Chauvin settlement
Minnesota tax payers on the hook for Derek Chauvin settlement 02:19

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Thursday voted to approve another hefty legal settlement related to ex-police officer Derek Chauvin.

The $600,000 sum is the fifth such payout in cases involving Chauvin since 2020, with a total cost of roughly $36.4 million; the largest payout, $27 million, was paid to the family of George Floyd, who was killed by Chauvin.

"It's a significant amount of money," Aisha Chugtai, City Council vice president, told WCCO. "It's a significant amount of money we could be using to address the major issues affecting our residents, like unsheltered homelessness, expanding our public safety ecosystem, like investing in affordable housing. Those are resources that are instead going towards paying out settlements for the misconduct of police officers."

Other misconduct cases unrelated to Chauvin have also cost the city millions of dollars. According to city officials, the cash for the settlements comes from an internal insurance account funded by all city departments and offices.

"Everybody pays for the cost of our self-insurance increasing," Chugtai, who also chairs the council's budget committee, lamented. 

This latest lawsuit alleged that in January 2020, Patty Day was "violently jerked from her car" and thrown to the ground by Chauvin and another officer. The complaint described Chauvin then used his "signature pose," and pressed his knee into Day's back while she was handcuffed. 

The suit says Day was in her car, drunk, sitting on the side of the road for hours, when a neighbor called 911. Chauvin and the second officer responded to the call. According to the lawsuit, Chauvin's excessive force resulted in Day suffering a fractured tooth, as well as "significant" arm and shoulder injuries. 

"While no settlement can undo what Patty endured, we are grateful to have reached an agreement that holds the officers accountable for their actions," said Katie Bennett, a partner with Robins Kaplan's civil rights team who represented Day in this lawsuit. "This case is yet another example of the critical need for justice and reform in policing."

In 2021, Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder for killing Floyd during an arrest in May 2020. He's now serving a 22-year sentence

In April 2023, the Minneapolis City Council settled two civil cases against Chauvin for nearly $9 million. Both lawsuits allege that Chauvin used excessive force three years before Floyd's murder, including on one person who was 14 years old at the time. The settlement came two years after the city approved a historic $27 million settlement with Floyd's family. 

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