Floyd Family Planning Civil Suit Against Derek Chauvin: Lawyer

A small group of peaceful protestors hold signs and shout slogans in memory of George Floyd in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles, Calif., June 11, 2020. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for George Floyd’s family, is planning to file a civil lawsuit against Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck before the man died.

“Absolutely,” he said Saturday morning when asked if the family planned on suing Chauvin personally.

“The family intends on holding Derek Chauvin fully accountable in every aspect, criminal and civil, for the wrongful death of George Floyd,” he added.

Crump was speaking during a virtual appearance on CNN.

Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers responded to a call about counterfeit money at Cup Foods on Memorial Day. After Floyd resisted arrest, three of them restrained him.

Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes in a move known as a chokehold, even after Floyd, who complained he couldn’t breathe, stopped moving.

Autopsies indicated Floyd died from asphyxiation or cardiac arrest while being restrained and that his manner of death was homicide.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin poses for undated booking photographs. Minnesota Department of Corrections/Reuters

Chauvin and officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Keung, and Tou Thao were fired the day after the arrest. Chauvin was later charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, filed charges of aiding and abetting murder against Lane, Keung, and Thao.

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, told The Epoch Times this week that he isn’t commenting on the case on or off the record.

Crump’s announcement of a plan to file a civil lawsuit came after a group serving current and former public employees throughout Minnesota said Chauvin could receive more than $1 million in pension benefits.

While some states allow for pensions of public employees to be terminated if they are convicted of felony crimes related to their work, Minnesota does not.

Floyd’s death sparked protests and riots across the nation. Activists argue the death is part of a pattern of racial injustice perpetrated by police officers that often goes unpunished.

The Minneapolis City Council, including Ellison’s son, unanimously voted Friday to pursue replacing its police department with a “community-led public safety system.”

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.