On Tuesday, bystander Donald Williams of Minneapolis filed a lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court against the city of the death of George Floyd. He was one of the most vocal bystanders as a Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd three years ago. He’s alleging that he was assaulted and suffered emotional distress as he witnessed the handcuffed Black man beg for his life, go unconscious and stop breathing.
The lawsuit says Williams is seeking more than $50,000 for each count, a standard dollar amount that must be listed in Minnesota if a plaintiff intends to seek anything above that figure, per CBS News. In the suit, Williams alleges one count of assault, one count of intentional infliction of emotional distress and one count of negligent infliction of emotional distress. As a result of the officers’ conduct, William claims he has endured not only emotional distress, but pain, suffering, humiliation, embarrassment as well as medical expenses, according to the lawsuit.
Aside from that lawsuit, on Wednesday, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin also went ahead and appealed his murder conviction in the killing of George Floyd to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday, claiming the district judge’s decision not to move the proceedings out of the city didn’t allow him a fair trial.
William Mohrman, Chauvin’s attorney, filed a petition for review with the state’s highest court. The petition comes a month after the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Chauvin’s conviction for second-degree murder and let his 22-1/2-year sentence remain in place.
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Mohrman had asked the appeals court to drop the ex-officer’s conviction for several of reasons, including the massive pretrial publicity. However, Mohrman’s attempt was unsuccessful as three-judge panel sided with prosecutors last month who said Chauvin got a fair trial and just sentence. In Chauvin latest appeal, they bring up some of those same arguments. Despite that, Mohrman said, “We’re very hopeful that the Minnesota Supreme Court will accept review of the case.”
More On The Murder Of George Floyd
On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd—a 46-year-old African American man—was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota by a police officer. The incident sparked outrage and protests across the nation and around the world. Witnesses to the incident reported that Floyd was unarmed and that he had been handcuffed when the Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes while Floyd pleaded for help. The police officer was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, and three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. The death of George Floyd has highlighted issues of systemic racism in law enforcement and has led to calls for sweeping reforms in policing policies across the United States.
In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to a separate federal civil rights charge. At the time, he was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison, which he is currently serving in Arizona concurrent with his state sentence. While breaking things down, Judge Peter Reyes wrote for the Court of Appeals last month explaining,
“Police officers undoubtedly have a challenging, difficult, and sometimes dangerous job. However, no one is above the law. When they commit a crime, they must be held accountable just as those individuals that they lawfully apprehend. The law only permits police officers to use reasonable force when effecting a lawful arrest. Chauvin crossed that line here when he used unreasonable force on Floyd.”
Now, as pointed out by local outlets, Minnesota Supreme Court could agree to hear Chauvin’s latest appeal, in which case it would ask each side for detailed briefs and later set a date to hear arguments. Or it could let the Court of Appeals ruling stand.
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