The city of Minneapolis has reached an agreement to pay $600,000 to settle a lawsuit from a woman who claimed that former Officer Derek Chauvin used excessive force on her, per ABC News. 

Patty Day, formerly employed by the Public Works Department, accused Chauvin of forcibly removing her from her minivan and pinning her to the ground with his knee in January 2020. Similar to the actions he took four months later when he fatally restrained George Floyd. In a lawsuit filed last May, she claimed that she was subjected to excessive force and wrongfully arrested. 

She admitted that she was intoxicated on the night of January 17, 2020, and was feeling depressed about her impending divorce and other challenges when she became stuck in the snow for several hours. Eventually, Chauvin and his partner that night, Officer Ellen Jensen, arrived at the scene. The lawsuit alleged that the officers

“violently yanked”

Day from her vehicle and threw her to the ground, resulting in multiple injuries.

“Chauvin then assumed his signature pose, pressing his knee into the subdued and handcuffed Patty’s back — just as he would later do to snuff the life out of George Floyd — and remaining that way well after Patty was controlled,”

the complaint alleged. A charge of driving under the influence was later dismissed after a judge determined that the officers did not have probable cause for her arrest and excluded the blood alcohol test evidence. 

On Thursday, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved the $600,000 settlement. Council member LaTrisha Vetaw informed her colleagues that $175,000 will be awarded to Day, while her attorneys will receive $425,000. The city has now paid more than $36 million to settle police misconduct cases involving Chauvin, which includes $27 million awarded to the Floyd family. Chauvin is currently serving time in a federal prison in Texas for his state court conviction of murdering Floyd. 

#Clique, what are your thoughts?