George Floyd in Minneapolis: Convictions, Settlement, and Reforms

The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis happened on May 25, 2020, when officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds outside a convenience store at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Floyd was handcuffed, face-down, and unresisting. He told officers 25 times that he could not breathe. He was pronounced dead at a hospital that evening. All four officers involved were later convicted in state and federal court, the city paid Floyd’s family $27 million, and the case set off the largest protest movement in recent American history.

What Happened at 38th and Chicago

Officers were called to Cup Foods after a report that Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill. The encounter escalated when officers tried to place him in a squad car. Floyd ended up on the pavement. Chauvin pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck and back. Officer J. Alexander Kueng knelt on Floyd’s lower body for more than eight minutes. Officer Thomas Lane held Floyd’s legs. Officer Tou Thao stood between the restraint and a crowd of bystanders who pleaded with the officers to stop.¹

Floyd called out for his mother. Lane said Floyd was “passing out.” Kueng said he could not find a pulse. All four officers were trained in CPR. None rendered aid. Chauvin remained in position after paramedics arrived. EMTs and firefighters could not revive Floyd during transport.¹

In their first accounts to supervisors, Lane and Kueng left out that Chauvin had knelt on Floyd’s neck, that the restraint had lasted more than nine minutes, that Floyd had lost consciousness, and that officers could not find a pulse. Kueng falsely said Floyd did not stop moving until the ambulance arrived. Bystander video contradicted those accounts.¹

The Video That Made the Case

Darnella Frazier, 17 at the time, recorded roughly ten minutes of the encounter on her cellphone. Her footage showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd gasped and went limp. It spread online within hours and became the central evidence in the prosecutions that followed. Journalist Ann Marie Lipinski called it “one of the most important civil rights documents in a generation,” saying, “There is no case without her.”²

Frazier testified at Chauvin’s trial that Floyd “was in pain” and “knew it was over for him.” The Pulitzer Prize Board awarded her a special citation in June 2021 for “courageously recording the murder of George Floyd,” and PEN America gave her its Courage Award.³⁴

What Killed George Floyd

Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker ruled the death a homicide. He identified the cause as “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression.” Baker listed hypertensive heart disease and fentanyl use as contributing factors but not the direct cause. At trial he testified that the restraint was “more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions.” Independent forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas testified that the primary mechanism of death was asphyxia caused by low oxygen, a conclusion she reached from the video of Floyd’s final minutes.⁵

What Happened to the Four Officers

Derek Chauvin

A Hennepin County jury found Chauvin guilty on April 20, 2021, of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in state prison.⁶

In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty in federal court to two civil rights violations: one for killing Floyd through unreasonable force and deliberate indifference to his medical needs, and a second for a 2017 incident in which he restrained a handcuffed 14-year-old boy by the throat and neck for roughly 15 minutes. He agreed the offense was equivalent to second-degree murder and accepted a permanent ban from law enforcement.⁷ Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced him to 21 years in federal prison in July 2022, to run concurrently with the state sentence.⁸

In November 2023, Chauvin was stabbed 22 times by another inmate at the federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. He was later transferred to FCI Big Spring in Texas, a low-security facility.⁹ His projected release date is 2038. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his challenge to the state conviction. In November 2025, his attorney filed a motion in Hennepin County District Court seeking to vacate the state convictions and obtain a new trial, alleging that Minneapolis police officials lied under oath about departmental training, that prosecutors mishandled evidence, and that expert witnesses based cause-of-death testimony on video rather than medical findings. The motion was pending as of late 2025.¹⁰

Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao

A federal jury in St. Paul convicted all three former officers in February 2022 of violating Floyd’s civil rights by failing to provide medical aid. Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force. Lane, who twice suggested rolling Floyd onto his side, was convicted only on the medical-aid charge.¹¹

Federal sentences handed down in mid-2022: Tou Thao received 42 months, J. Alexander Kueng received 36 months, and Thomas Lane received 30 months. All three surrendered to federal authorities in October 2022.¹¹

In state court, Lane pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and got a three-year sentence to run concurrently with his federal time. Kueng pleaded guilty to the same charge in October 2022, with a jointly recommended 42 months served concurrently. Both had their murder charges dropped as part of the deals.¹²¹³¹⁴

Lane was released from federal prison in August 2024 and began a two-year term of supervised release. As of mid-2024, Kueng and Thao remained incarcerated with projected release dates in 2025.¹⁵

The $27 Million Civil Settlement

Floyd’s family filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis in June 2020, alleging the city failed to train officers in proper restraint and failed to dismiss officers with documented misconduct. On March 12, 2021, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to approve a $27 million settlement, the largest pretrial wrongful-death settlement in Minnesota history. Mayor Jacob Frey called it “a milestone for Minneapolis’s future.”¹⁶¹⁷ The timing drew scrutiny because it coincided with jury selection for Chauvin’s criminal trial.

The Protests

The killing set off an uprising in Minneapolis that included the burning of the Third Precinct police station, widespread property destruction, and looting. More than 300 Minneapolis officers quit in the months that followed.¹⁸ The Minnesota National Guard deployed armored vehicles, and Governor Tim Walz apologized after a CNN crew was detained on live television.¹⁹

Between late May and late August 2020, researchers recorded more than 7,750 Black Lives Matter demonstrations in more than 2,440 locations across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. About 95 percent were peaceful. Fewer than 5 percent involved vandalism, looting, or clashes with police.²⁰ In June 2020, 84 percent of U.S. adults reported following news about the demonstrations closely, and support for the Black Lives Matter movement peaked at 67 percent.²¹

By 2025, support for Black Lives Matter had fallen to 52 percent, and 72 percent of Americans said the increased focus on race after Floyd’s death had not improved Black people’s lives. Views split sharply by party: 84 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of Republicans said they supported the movement.²¹

What Changed in Policing

Between 2020 and 2021, U.S. states passed more than 140 law enforcement oversight bills. At least 30 states and Washington, D.C., enacted statewide reforms. Nine states and D.C. banned chokeholds and neck restraints outright, and eight more restricted their use to situations where deadly force would be legally justified. Twelve states and D.C. created a legal duty for officers to intervene against excessive force. Colorado and New York City eliminated qualified immunity for police officers, and at least 14 states created or strengthened decertification processes for officers found to have committed misconduct.²²

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would have banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases federally, eliminated qualified immunity, raised the use-of-force standard from “reasonable” to “necessary,” and created a national police misconduct registry. The House passed versions in 2020 and 2021 that stalled in the Senate.²³²⁴²⁵ The bill has not become law.

Federal oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department itself followed a similar arc. The U.S. Department of Justice opened a pattern-or-practice investigation on April 21, 2021. In June 2023, it concluded that MPD routinely used excessive force, unlawfully discriminated against Black and Native American residents, violated the rights of people engaged in protected speech, and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities. The city and DOJ reached a tentative consent decree in December 2024, and the City Council approved its terms in January 2025.²⁶ In May 2025, the DOJ under the Trump administration moved to dismiss the case, stating that its leadership no longer believed a consent decree was “in the public interest.” A federal judge granted that motion on May 27, 2025. Mayor Frey then signed Executive Order 2025-01 on June 10, 2025, directing city officials to implement the reforms without federal oversight.²⁷

A separate state-level agreement remains in effect. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights reached a court-enforceable settlement with the city in March 2023, approved by the court that July, focused on race-based policing. An independent monitor, Effective Law Enforcement for All, began overseeing compliance in March 2024 and has issued periodic progress reports.²⁸

The Intersection Today

The corner where Floyd was killed became a site of memorials and community gatherings known as George Floyd Square. Cup Foods later renamed itself Unity Foods.²⁹ The city launched a redesign project called “38th & Chicago Re-envisioned” in 2021. In December 2025, the City Council approved a concept layout, and construction on surrounding streets began the week of June 8, 2026, as part of a $15 million infrastructure overhaul. A second phase focused on the intersection itself is planned for 2027.³⁰

Minneapolis marked the sixth anniversary of Floyd’s death in May 2026 with the Rise and Remember Festival, which organizers described as the largest anniversary event to date. Governor Walz visited the memorial and laid flowers. Rise and Remember, which maintains the offerings collected at the square, is working toward a permanent memorial and a future museum.³¹³²

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Three Former Minneapolis Police Officers Convicted of Federal Civil Rights Violations
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NPR. Darnella Frazier, Teen Who Filmed George Floyd’s Murder, Wins Pulitzer Prize Citation
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Pulitzer Prizes. Darnella Frazier
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ABC News. Darnella Frazier Recognized at Pulitzer Prizes for George Floyd Video
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CNN. Derek Chauvin Trial Day 10
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CNN. Derek Chauvin Found Guilty of Murder of George Floyd
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U.S. Department of Justice. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Pleads Guilty in Federal Court
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New York Times. Derek Chauvin George Floyd Federal Sentence
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NPR. Ex-Officer Convicted in George Floyd’s Killing Is Moved to New Prison
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KTTC. Derek Chauvin Files for New Trial, Alleges Prosecutorial Misconduct
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U.S. Department of Justice. Former Minneapolis Police Officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng Sentenced to Prison
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Minnesota Attorney General. J. Alexander Kueng Pleads Guilty
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Minnesota Attorney General. Tou Thao Found Guilty
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Washington Post. George Floyd Officer Sentenced
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KCRA. Thomas Lane George Floyd Release
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New York Times. George Floyd Minneapolis Settlement
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BBC. George Floyd: Minneapolis Approves $27 Million Settlement
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NBC News. 9 Minutes, 29 Seconds: George Floyd Was Killed, Forever Changing a Neighborhood
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CNN. George Floyd Protests 2020 Look Back
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ACLED. Demonstrations and Political Violence in America
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Pew Research Center. Views of Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Five Years Since George Floyd’s Killing
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Brennan Center for Justice. State Policing Reforms Since George Floyd’s Murder
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House Judiciary Committee Democrats. Justice in Policing Act
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U.S. Senate (Senator Booker). Reintroduction of George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
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Congress.gov. H.R. 5361
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City of Minneapolis. Consent Decree
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MPR News. Minneapolis Police Federal Consent Decree Agreement Could Be Dismissed
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City of Minneapolis. Court-Enforceable Settlement Agreement
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CBS News Minnesota. George Floyd Square Business Owners Sue Minneapolis
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City of Minneapolis. 38th and Chicago Re-envisioned
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Fox 9. Community Gathers for 6th Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death
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Sahan Journal. George Floyd Sixth Anniversary Memorial Events