Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop convicted in the murder of George Floyd, used his "signature pose" and knelt on a city worker during a violent arrest, according to a lawsuit.
On Tuesday (May 21), Patricia Day filed a lawsuit against Chauvin alleging "gratuitous use of excessive force" during a 2020 arrest, per the Daily Beast.
According to attorney Katie Bennett, Day was working as the communications and public outreach director for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works in January 2020 when she “pulled herself over” while on her way to pick up her child from daycare.
Bennett had been drinking and realized she shouldn't be driving, so she pulled over on the side of the road. Chauvin and his partner officer Ellen Jensen, who is also named in the lawsuit, responded to reports of a "suspicious vehicle" and said Day "showed signs of impairment."
According to the lawsuit, Chauvin "violently yanked" Day from her vehicle and threw her to the ground. "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 lawsuit states.
Day suffered a broken tooth, a sprained ankle, and was stabbed in her hand while being handcuffed, leaving her with deep gash that has since scarred. The city worker was also "embarrassed" and "traumatized" by the incident and still experiences pain in her arm and shoulder, according to the suit.
Day also claims that the City of Minneapolis, another defendant in the suit, let Chauvin "run amok" and empowered him by failing to displicine his alleged violence.
“Sadly, my experience with Derek Chauvin is not unique,” Day said in a statement. “George Floyd died at the hands of this individual, and had the City intervened on his behavior after my interaction, he could still be alive today.”
According to Day's lawsuit, Chauvin and Jensen also lied on police reports, omitting "the true extent" of the assault.
“The material lies and omissions in the officers’ reports are the type that MPD rank and file are accustomed to making without consequence or repercussion from supervisors and those all the way up the chain of command,” the lawsuit states.
Day was initially charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of third-degree DWI but her case was later dismissed. She is seeking "compensatory damages in excess of $9 million each from Chauvin, Jensen and the City of Minneapolis, plus punitive damages and legal fees," the Daily Beast reports.
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