Update (July 15, 2020): Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and four police officers for the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd, CNN reported.

The 40-page suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota on behalf of Floyd’s family, was explained in greater detail at a press conference on Wednesday by Crump. 

According to CBS News, Crump said the four officers who arrested Floyd violated his rights and that the city cultivated a police department culture that promoted violence. With the lawsuit, Crump told reporters that he hoped to make it "financially prohibitive" for police departments to continue killing people. 

"This is a crisis in Black America — a public health crisis. 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. It was the knee of the entire Minneapolis police department on the neck of George Floyd that killed him. This is an unprecedented case, with this lawsuit we seek to create a precedent," Crump said according to NPR.

Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, Crump added, violated Floyd’s Fourth Amendment right during the interaction that led to his death. 

Crump and co-counsel Antonio Romanucci also took aim at the city’s police policies, criticizing vague use-of-force rules and the approved neck restraint that led to Floyd’s death. 

In an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune last month, Crump said he was planning to file a federal civil rights lawsuit and told the outlet that financial payouts were often the only way families could find justice. 

The lawsuit states the Minneapolis Police Department "trained its officers that a 'neck restraint' was an authorized form of non-deadly force, and that a 'chokehold' was a form of deadly force capable of causing serious bodily injury and/or death."

It goes on to say that the police department permitted and condoned the use of these neck restraints from 2012 until last month. The city kept the policy even after having data that showed its officers had been using it at a rate of about one neck restraint per week since 2012. Of the 428 people who police restrained using the neck hold, 14% lost consciousness, according to the lawsuit.

Crump has already won more than 200 police brutality lawsuits, including suits for the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. He also currently represents the families of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

Original (June 3, 2020): The Star Tribune reported that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has elevated the charges against former police officer Derek Chauvin to second-degree murder. Additionally, the three cops who stood by as Floyd was being killed will also be charged.  

Ellison stated that officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng will be charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, according to the Star Tribune. 

As Blavity previously reported, Chauvin was initially arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for George Floyd's death. But Lane, Thao and Kueng had only been fired from the police force.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar — who has faced criticism for her past decision to not charge Chauvin in a separate shooting incident —tweeted about the decision.

In an interview with MSNBC on Monday, Ellison said all four officers involved in Floyd's death would face consequences for their actions.

"We are reviewing the evidence, and we are reviewing the law, and we are going to charge this case in a manner consistent with the highest level of accountability that the facts and the law will support. I can assure you that we're taking a fresh look at this," Ellison said.

Ellison would not say whether Chauvin would face any additional charges but said there was more evidence the public has not seen.

"This is justice. We're going on justice and that's what we're going to do. I know that people are frustrated by the pacing, but I want to assure them that as a person who has dedicated my whole life to civil rights and justice, I am going to pursue justice vigorously, relentlessly, uncompromisingly," he said. 

Ellison, who was appointed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week, said officials were still reviewing evidence from the scene. 

Some protesters were outraged when it was revealed that Chauvin had been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. As Ellison explained in the interview, third-degree murder carries about a 12-year sentence, while second-degree and first-degree murder charges go up to 25 years or life in prison, respectively.

"It is essential that this prosecution is viewed as just and fair. I don't want to have to defend this prosecution from false accusations of rush to judgment or pressure by the public. We are reviewing all of the evidence. The public knows some things about the other officers, but there's a whole body of evidence that we're still reviewing and so we have to make sure that we look at the facts and the law," Ellison said.

He acknowledged the complaints people have had about the speed of the investigation and the charges but said it was important for the process to be done correctly so that justice could be provided to Floyd's family. 

Concerns were raised last week when it was reported that the Hennepin County medical examiner's initial report stated there were “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”

Another autopsy initiated by Floyd's family this week disputes those findings. According to a statement released to CBS News, Dr. Allecia Wilson and Dr. Michael Baden said Floyd's death was caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain.


Derek-chauvingeorge-floydkeith ellisonThomas-LaneTou Thao