The City of Minneapolis has agreed to pay $1.5 million to Jaleel Stallings, a St. Paul veteran who sued the city after being acquitted of eight felony charges when he shot in self-defense at Minneapolis police officers during the George Floyd protests.
Stallings was acquitted by a jury last summer for the charges after evidence presented directly contradicted accounts provided by police and laid out by prosecutors. Stallings, who was protesting the death of George Floyd on May 30, 2020, said he didn't know the people firing plastic bullets at him from an unmarked cargo van were police, so he fired back.
Once Stalling realized it was police, he laid his weapon down and laid down on the ground. Surveillance video and bodycam footage shows SWAT officers kick, punch and knee Stallings repeatedly in the face and head after he had already surrendered. Officers initially claimed that he had resisted arrest, with a news release describing it as a "struggle."
Stallings suffered a fracture near his eye, as well as cuts and bruises.
The SWAT team involved with Stallings were driving in an unmarked cargo van, firing 40-mm marking rounds at civilians out after curfew. Body camera footage showed officers talking about "hunting" protesters. That's when they eventually beat Stallings and another person he was with after Stallings fired his weapon back at them. He previously stated that he "purposely" missed them.
No Minneapolis Police Department officer has been formally disciplined for their actions during the May 2020 riots as of this day, though one female officer was disciplined for speaking to a reporter anonymously.
Of course he didn't resist arrest, he's black. If he really resisted, he'd probably be dead.