The City of Minneapolis has agreed to pay $600,000 to Patty Day, a former Public Works Department employee, who alleged that ex-police officer Derek Chauvin once knelt on her back during an arrest. The settlement was approved by the city council following Day’s claims that Chauvin used excessive force against her.
Day’s allegations parallel the infamous maneuver that Chauvin used during George Floyd’s fatal arrest in 2020, though the exact cause of Floyd’s death remains disputed based on autopsy reports. According to Day’s complaint, officers, including Ellen Jensen, stopped her for drunk driving. She claimed they forcibly removed her from her vehicle and threw her to the ground without justification.
Day asserted that Chauvin broke her tooth, injured her arm and shoulder, and caused additional harm before she was handcuffed. The complaint described Chauvin pressing his knee into her back, a tactic later seen in Floyd’s case. Originally seeking $9 million in damages, Day ultimately settled for $600,000.
Her legal complaint also highlighted the ongoing media coverage of Chauvin, stating that his notoriety exacerbated her emotional distress. Chauvin remains one of the most widely recognized police officers in the United States due to his role in Floyd’s arrest and subsequent conviction.
The summer of 2020 saw nationwide protests following Floyd’s death, fueling the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Chauvin, now 45, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. However, medical reports noted that Floyd had a fatal level of fentanyl in his system at the time of his death.
In November 2023, Chauvin was the target of a stabbing attack by an inmate and FBI informant at FCI Tucson, a medium-security federal prison in Arizona. He has since been relocated to another facility in Oklahoma City, where he has recovered from his injuries.