Black Floyd was killed in 2020 after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck for minutes while three other officers watched. A bystander filmed the incident, which led to Black Lives Matter demonstrations worldwide against police brutality and racism. Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for murder last year.
John Pope Jr was 14 years old in 2017 when police officers came to his home over a domestic violence report. Chauvin, one of the officers who responded to the report, entered Pope’s bedroom. He was lying face down on the floor at the time, according to his lawyers. Chauvin then allegedly hit Pope “several times with a large flashlight on the head,” the indictment said, before pinning Pope to the ground with his knee — the same technique he used on George Floyd.
In the case of Zoya Code, Chauvin also used excessive force, according to the lawyers. He hit her head on the ground and pressed his knee into the back of her neck.
Chauvin’s lawyers have not yet commented on the charges. The co-defendant city of Minneapolis called the incidents involving Pope and Code “disturbing.” The law firm representing Minneapolis in the two cases said it hoped to reach a “reasonable settlement” with the plaintiffs.