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George Floyd's Brother Attends Unveiling Of Memorial Portrait In Brooklyn

Source: Stephanie Keith / Getty

Announced today, the City of Minneapolis has agreed to pay George Floyd’s family $27 million to settle the civil lawsuit they filed back in July following the murder of Floyd at the hands of the city’s police in May 2020.

Sparking countless protests across the globe in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of George Floyd and his words “I can’t breathe” were seen and heard around the world. The settlement from the city to his family comes just two weeks before the trial against the former police officer who murdered Floyd, Derek Chauvin, is set to begin.

As reported by NBC News, the settlement “includes a $500,000 donation to the community around the intersection of 38th and Chicago Avenue — now known as George Floyd Square — where police confronted Floyd last May 25 after a convenience store clerk claimed that he had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.”

After news broke of the historic settlement, Bridgett Floyd — one of Floyd’s sisters — shared in a statement, “Our family suffered an irreplaceable loss May 25 when George’s life was senselessly taken by a Minneapolis police officer.” She later said, “While we will never get our beloved George back, we will continue to work tirelessly to make this world a better, and safer, place for all.”

As one of the most vocal attorneys who have represented the family since Floyd’s death, Benjamin Crump said on today’s events, “It’s going to be a long journey to justice. This is but one step on the journey to justice.” Speaking on the settlement, he noted, “This makes a statement that George Floyd deserved better than what we witnessed on May 25, 2020, that George Floyd’s life matters, and that by extension, Black lives matter.”

NBC News addition shared that Crump said today’s moment marked “the largest pretrial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death lawsuit.”

Within regards to how the City of Minneapolis addressed their settlement with the family, City Council President Lisa Bender said, “I hope that today will center the voices of the family and anything that they would like to share.” That being stated, she added, “But I do want to, on behalf of the entire City Council, offer my deepest condolences to the family of George Floyd, his friends, and all of our community who are mourning his loss.”

With the trial expected to begin on March 29, Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder — and as of most recent updates — will also be facing a third-degree murder charge for the death of Floyd.

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