The Minneapolis city council approved a $150,000 settlement to an eyewitness who tried to intervene to prevent George Floyd’s murder by police in the city almost four years ago and alleges he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.
Donald Williams, 35, a mixed martial arts fighter who testified against Derek Chauvin in the former police officer’s 2021 murder trial, sued the city last spring, alleging he was assaulted by police while trying to prevent Floyd’s death on 25 May 2020.
The council unanimously approved the settlement without discussion on Thursday, the Star Tribune reported.
The lawsuit alleged that Chauvin looked directly at Williams, grabbed a canister of chemical spray and began shaking it toward him and other bystanders expressing concern for Floyd’s welfare. In video played at Chauvin’s trial, Williams can be heard urging Chauvin to get off Floyd, as the man was pinned down by the then officer, and denouncing the officer as a “bum”. Former officer Tou Thao stepped toward Williams and placed a hand on his chest, the lawsuit said.
Williams also urged officers to check Floyd’s pulse, medical aid that Chauvin and other officers ultimately failed to provide to Floyd.
Williams told the jury that Chauvin used what MMA fighters call a “blood choke” on Floyd, restricting his circulation as he was pinned.
“Just like in MMA, you can tell when someone is getting tired or getting choked out,” Williams testified. “I could see the man’s breathing becoming tremendously heavier and you could see and hear him struggling to gasp for air,” he added, referring to Floyd.
Williams also testified that he called 911 to report Chauvin and other officers because “I believe I witnessed a murder,” the Tribune reported.
As a result of the officers’ actions, Williams alleged in his lawsuit, he feared for his safety and endured pain, suffering, humiliation, embarrassment and medical expenses.
In a 2021 interview with the Guardian, Williams said that witnessing Floyd’s murder left him traumatized.
“I’m dealing with stuff, with trauma,” Williams told the Guardian of the impact the murder and trial had on him. “We all are. Everyone who watched that. We’re all dealing with it. It’s trauma.”
Williams added that Floyd’s murder left him “fearful” for his safety. “I’m a Black man in America,” he said.
Floyd, who was Black, died after Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on his neck for nine and a half minutes outside a convenience store where Floyd had allegedly tried to pay with a counterfeit $20 bill. Bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s murder sparked protests across the US on a scale unseen since the civil rights movement, which spread worldwide and forced a fresh reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Chauvin was convicted of state murder charges in Floyd’s death and was sentenced to 22.5 years. He also pleaded guilty to a separate federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights. Thao and two other former officers are serving shorter sentences.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
