Today national law firm Robins Kaplan LLP filed two lawsuits against former Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Officer Derek Chauvin, seven additional MPD officers, and the City of Minneapolis, on behalf of Minnesota residents John Pope and Zoya Code. The complaints allege police misconduct, use of excessive force, and racial discrimination from incidents dating back to 2017, three years before Chauvin murdered George Floyd, and using many of the same tactics employed in that deadly encounter. More importantly, Chauvin’s uses of force outlined in today’s complaints were approved by his MPD supervisors and he was not disciplined or sanctioned in any way. As a result, he was able to continue his unchecked use of excessive force when he encountered George Floyd in 2020.

John Pope was fourteen at the time of the incident when MPD was called to his house for a domestic disturbance. Despite the officers on the scene determining that the situation was a “Code 4,” meaning under control, Officer Chauvin entered Pope’s bedroom, where he was lying quietly facedown on the floor using his cell phone. As Pope peacefully explained to the officers what happened, officers became increasingly aggressive in their demands. Though Pope posed no threat to the officers or anyone else, Officer Chauvin rushed Pope and struck him multiple times on the head with a large flashlight. Despite pleas from Pope’s mother that her son was only fourteen years old, Chauvin continued to strike him with the flashlight, as Pope was screaming out in pain. Chauvin then pinned Pope to the floor with his knee, the same tactic he used on George Floyd, and held him in the prone position for fifteen minutes, while Pope was handcuffed behind his back and repeatedly crying that he could not breathe. Eight other MPD officers were on the scene witnessing the alleged use of deadly force, yet none stepped in to intervene. The incident was caught by several MPD bodycams and is the subject of a federal civil rights investigation.

In a strikingly similar incident to John Pope’s and George Floyd’s, Chauvin used excessive force on Zoya Code despite her not posing a threat to MPD officers or anyone else. While she was in handcuffs and not resisting arrest, Chauvin repeatedly used excessive force, torquing her handcuffed arms upward and wrenching them behind her head, all while she was face down. Chauvin also slammed Code’s head on the ground and then pinned his knee on the back of Code’s neck, like in the Pope and Floyd incidents. Code remained motionless and in the prone position while Chauvin remained on her neck for 4 minutes and 41 seconds. A second MPD officer on the scene failed to intervene. This incident was also caught on police bodycam.

“It is simply reprehensible that three years before Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, he used the same and other deadly tactics on John and Zoya, unchecked and undisciplined by his fellow officers and MPD supervisors,” says Pope and Code’s attorney Bob Bennett. “We will not stop seeking justice for the victims of serial predator Derek Chauvin and those MPD officers who failed to intervene, and will hold accountable all those in power who allowed and enabled this type of deadly, racist behavior to continue.”

About Robins Kaplan LLP®

Robins Kaplan is among the nation’s premier trial law firms, with more than 220 lawyers located in Bismarck, N.D.; Boston; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New York; Silicon Valley; and Sioux Falls, S.D. The firm litigates, mediates, and arbitrates high-stakes, complex disputes, repeatedly earning national recognition. Firm clients include—as both plaintiffs and defendants—numerous Fortune 500 corporations, emerging markets companies, entrepreneurs, and individuals.

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