Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been hit with two federal lawsuits alleging he used his “signature move” and kneeled on the necks of Black residents for several minutes—long before he killed George Floyd in the same manner in 2020. The lawsuits, both of which also name the City of Minneapolis as a defendant, allege that “history could have been stopped from repeating itself with George Floyd” if authorities had taken action against Chauvin. The first lawsuit was filed by John Pope Jr., who alleges he was only 14 when Chauvin “pinned [him] to the floor with his body weight” and knelt on his neck for more than 15 minutes, even as “John repeatedly cried out that he could not breathe.” Chauvin already admitted to some of Pope’s allegations during his federal civil-rights trial in December, when his guilty plea included force used against Pope. The second federal lawsuit, filed by Zoya Code, alleges the then-Minneapolis police officer “gratuitously slammed” her head into the ground while responding to an assault complaint in 2017, and then “took his signature pose, kneeling on the back of Zoya’s neck” for nearly five minutes. “The incidents involving John Pope and Zoya Code are disturbing,” Interim City Attorney Peter Ginder said of the lawsuits in a statement, adding that authorities hope to “reach a reasonable settlement.”
