The family of George Floyd filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Minneapolis and the four former police officers involved in his death. Floyd's death sparked mass protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"It was the knee of the entire Minneapolis police department on the neck of George Floyd that killed him," Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said about the suit. “The city of Minneapolis has a history of policies and procedures and deliberate indifference when it comes to the treatment of arrestees, especially Black men."

Floyd’s killing, which involved officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, was caught on camera and widely disseminated on social media. Former Minneapolis officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng helped restrain Floyd, while Tou Thao watched the situation unfold. All four officers were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department amid public outcry.

Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, while the other three former officers have each been charged with aiding and betting.

Crump claimed Floyd was a victim of systemic racism in the Minneapolis Police Department.

"This is an unprecedented case and with this lawsuit we seek to set a precedent to make it finanically prohibitive so police won't ... kill marginalized people, especially Black people, in the future," Crump said.

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