Chauvin, Minneapolis police named in two federal excessive force lawsuits dating to 2017

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.startribune.com/chauvin-mpd-named-in-two-federal-excessive-force-lawsuits-dating-to-2017-involving-teen-ager-woman/600177889/

A teenager who was pinned under Derek Chauvin's knee three years before George Floyd's murder filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday, saying in an interview that Minneapolis Police Department should have fired or disciplined the ex-officer for the earlier incident.

"George Floyd would be standing here today," John Pope said last week.

In a federal lawsuit seeking unspecified damages, Pope and his attorney Bob Bennett say Chauvin and six other officers violated his constitutional right to be free from excessive force. The lawsuit says a culture of racism and violence permeated the MPD for decades and that rather than discipline Chauvin for his treatment of Pope, the officer was "left free to prowl for more Black persons to subjugate and torture."

Pope's was one of two federal lawsuits filed against Chauvin and the city by Bennett on Tuesday that accused the ex-officer of using the same dangerous restraint. The teenager's lawsuit calls Chauvin a "serial predator" with a "signature move" of placing his knee on the neck of prone, handcuffed arrestees.

Link to tweet

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin'

[sop]

2. The image of Chauvin kneeling on her neck while pulling up on the handcuffs makes my own

arms and shoulders ache. Reminds me of the torture images from Abu Ghraib prison. Chauvin is not the exception, he's doing exactly what thousands of other sadistic cops do every day: punish people they hate simply because they can. Small wonder most minorities fear and distrust police.