Minneapolis to pay $600,000 to settle with woman who says Derek Chauvin knelt on her neck

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The city of Minneapolis has settled a lawsuit and will pay $600,000 to a woman who alleged that former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on her neck.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2024, alleges Chauvin forcefully removed the woman from her minivan and pinned her to the ground with his knee in January 2020, the same thing he did four months later to George Floyd, killing him. 

Minneapolis settles lawsuit because Derek Chauvin knelt on woman’s neck

Patty Day, a former Minneapolis Public Works Department employee, claimed in a lawsuit that she was the victim of excessive force and a wrongful arrest.

She acknowledged that she was intoxicated on the evening of Jan. 17, 2020, and depressed over her impending divorce and other difficulties when she got stuck in the snow for several hours.

The lawsuit alleges when Chauvin and his partner that night, Officer Ellen Jensen, arrived on the scene, they “violently yanked” Day from her vehicle and threw her to the pavement, causing several injuries.

“Chauvin then assumed his signature pose, pressing his knee into the subdued and handcuffed Patty’s back, just as he would later do to snuff the life out of George Floyd , and remaining that way well after Patty was controlled,” the complaint alleged.

Day’s drunken driving charge was later dropped after a judge ruled that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest her and suppressed the blood alcohol test evidence.

Settlement terms

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved the $600,000 settlement Thursday. $175,000 will go to Day while her attorneys will get $425,000, reports the Associated Press.

To date, the city of Minneapolis has now paid over $36 million to settle police misconduct cases involving Chauvin, including $27 million to the Floyd family.