George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit $20 bill, on May 25, 2020.[3] Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene, knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.[4] After his murder, protests against police brutality, especially towards black people, quickly spread across the United States and globally. His dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry.
Former police officer Derek Chauvin in April 2021 was found guilty of murdering George Floyd on May 25, 2020, when Chauvin knelt on the man’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd was in police custody. Floyd’s death touched off months of Black Lives Matters protests against police violence in general and disproportionate police violence against Black Americans in particular.
The City of Minneapolis settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd’s family for $27 million. Chauvin was convicted on two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter on April 20, 2021[10] and on June 25, 2021, was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.[11] The trial of the other three officers at the scene of Floyd’s murder is scheduled to begin on March 7, 2022
