Minneapolis Stores Where George Floyd Was Killed Sue City, Claim Police Are Ignoring The Area

Stores located where George Floyd was murdered have filed a suit against the city claiming Minneapolis police have ignored the area.

Several stores located at the site where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 have filed a suit against the city, claiming police have ignored the area.

The Associated Press reports the lawsuit, which was filed in early November, accuses the city of not policing the area since Floyd’s death. Additionally, the suit names Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other city officials, accusing them of blocking the intersection, now known as George Floyd Square, with concrete barriers for more than a year after Floyd’s death, which has blocked customers from entering the area.

According to the lawsuit, “The mayor, the city, the city council, and the Minneapolis Police Department collectively agreed to severely limit police response in the barricaded area surrounding plaintiffs’ businesses,” with police responding to only the most serious calls and actively avoiding the area.

“Criminals know the area lacks police protection, and they have now made the area so dangerous that it has become known as the ‘No Go Zone,’” the lawsuit adds.

The Minneapolis businesses that filed the suit are all located in the Cup Foods store where Floyd allegedly tried to pass off a $20 counterfeit bill, which led to the police being called and Floyd’s death. In addition to Cup Foods, a tobacco company and an investment company are named in the lawsuit, and all are owned by the same family, seeking about $1.5 million in damages.

In a statement, Frey’s spokeswoman, Ally Peters, said the city did “everything possible to open the street safely amid very tenuous circumstances.”

“When we finally did open the street, the city did so in a planned way where no one was hurt and the area remained safe for residents,” Peters added.

Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while three of his co-workers stood by and watched. Floyd’s death, along with the death of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, jump-started the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, which led to nationwide and worldwide protests.

Chauvin, who was sentenced to 21 years in prison for Floyd’s death, was stabbed in an Arizona prison earlier this month.