George Floyd’s family sues Kanye West for $250M after rapper disputes cause of death
Kanye West speaks with demonstrators opposed to his concert in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 7, 2017, after police arrested him and performed a stun grenade-tipped takedown. Reuters
Kentucky man Floyd’s family says that a judge has granted a request to file a wrongful death suit against West, who performed his set at the Fyre Festival in 2017 and was arrested after an altercation that resulted in his arrest and a violent police takedown.
The family’s lawsuit will put to rest a long-running dispute over West’s performance in the 2017 Fyre Festival, which has been portrayed as a swan song for a disastrous music festival that was scheduled to take place in the Bahamas and was allegedly overbooked to the point that it didn’t actually exist.
“This decision provides justice for a man who died tragically on the way to his dreams,” said attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing West in the case. “We are thankful for the court’s decision today, which opens the door for us to move forward with our investigation of the circumstances of Floyd’s death.”
But the lawsuit may not be enough to close the case, since the family may be contesting the evidence, Crump said.
“The issue that Floyd’s family will have to address and that the district court will likely address is the amount of damages that will be available if they do prevail,” Crump said on Monday. “There will be some litigation around the issue of the fact that we are the family of a deceased man, but ultimately this will likely become the issue of what compensatory damages were available to Floyd’s estate.”
The family’s lawsuit comes after a New York Times report last year detailed a chaotic and fatal police takedown in which West suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck, a broken left elbow tendon and a concussion as he was taken down by Louisville Metro Police.
Police arrested West and transported him to the hospital after a verbal altercation, the Times report said. West was taken to a local jail, where he was booked for trespassing and resisting arrest, then released on $60,000 bond.
“If the arrest was justifiable, it would be one thing, but it definitely wasn’t,” Crump said.
