‘NOT ABOUT THE CHECK’

$1.5 Million for Man Shot by Police During George Floyd Protests

Army Vet Jaleel Stallings says the settlement “validates” his case, but officers should have been held personally accountable.

A Minneapolis man who won a $1.5 million settlement after being found not guilty of the attempted murder of police officers during the George Floyd protests said that he would have preferred to see individual officers held accountable. Jaleel Stallings, a 29-year-old Army vet, was targeted by police firing plastic bullets from an unmarked van as protests roiled the city after Floyd's murder in May 2020. He fired back, from a legally held gun, only to be arrested and beaten after being swarmed by officers. Stallings was charged with eight felonies, including attempted murder, but was found not guilty after his lawyer released bodycam footage showing that police had fired first without any warning. Stallings told the Minneapolis Star Tribune the $1.5 million settlement, plus costs, “validates the harm” done to him. “But it’s disappointing, because the goal of the civil suit was not a check,” he added. “It was getting justice and accountability. And I don’t feel like I’ve received that. I don’t feel like anything has been done to hold the officers accountable or change the culture of policing that leads to these incidents.”