Derek Chauvin accused of kneeling on woman’s back months before George Floyd's death

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin allegedly knelt on the back of a woman he was arresting mere months before he pulled the same move, that turned fatal, on George Floyd, a new federal lawsuit contends.

It’s yet another excessive force case that's come to light against Chauvin, who is white, now serving time on state charges of murder in connection with the death of Floyd, a Black man, as well as federal charges of violating his civil rights.

Floyd's May 2020 death was filmed by a passerby and showed Chauvin pressing his knee into his back and neck for nearly nine and a half minutes as Floyd pleaded “I can’t breathe” in Minneapolis — a moment that sparked national protests decrying police brutality and racism.

A new complaint filed Tuesday in Minnesota federal court alleges Chauvin and his previous partner, Ellen Jensen, used excessive force in January 2020 against Patty Day, who worked as the communications and public outreach director for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works.

The two allegedly "violently" yanked Day from her car, threw her onto the ground in the middle of the street with Chauvin pressing his knee into her back. The complaint said she was handcuffed and was not resisting.

Day fractured her tooth and was left with bruises across her body in the ordeal, the complaint said. The officers also allegedly failed to report their use of force in their police reports.

Day's arrest

On Jan. 17, 2020, a 911 call came in at 7:45 p.m. regarding an intoxicated person, who was Day, in a minivan outside the caller's residence in Minneapolis.

Day, who was depressed at the time and going through a divorce, had drank at her home and woke up to an alarm reminding her to pick up her children at daycare, according to the complaint.

It was snowing that day as she got into her minivan and started driving, and pulled over after a couple of blocks realizing she shouldn’t be driving. Her vehicle then got stuck in a snowbank.

She threw her keys into the back seat to prevent herself from driving. She had left her cellphone at home and couldn’t call for help. “Depressed and intoxicated, she felt hopeless,” the complaint said.

Chauvin and Jensen responded to her vehicle at 8:50 p.m.

Jensen's police report said that they found Day's vehicle with “its passenger side turned into snowbank, almost blocking the sidewalk.” She found two people speaking to Day through the driver's window who told the officer they believed Day “has a bad situation at home and pulled over to rest.”

Jensen talked to Day through the window, and Day attempted to explain that the vehicle couldn’t be driven because the keys were not in the ignition, but in the back of the minivan. Jensen didn’t understand what Day was saying and pointed out that the vehicle was running. Chauvin then approached the open window, reached inside the car and unlocked the driver’s door, according to the complaint.

The two then “violently grabbed Patty’s left and right arms, respectively, and began pulling her out of the vehicle,” the filing said. The officers also didn’t inform Day she was under arrest before attempting to physically remove her from the minivan, the complaint said.

She was thrown onto the ground facedown in the middle of the street and the impact cracked one of her teeth. She also suffered pain to her left arm and shoulder, as well as her face, arms, hands, chest, ankle and legs, which were scraped and bruised, the filing said.

Chauvin then drove his knee into Patty’s back and pressed her into the ground, the complaint said.

Though Patty allegedly did not resist, she was cuffed and Chauvin did not immediately release his knee. She was then made to stand up and put into the squad car lying on her side, the filing said.

In an interview with NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis, Day said: “I was not resisting. I was not being belligerent … I was simply trying to show them that there were no keys in the ignition of my car.”

Another officer was summoned to administer field sobriety tests that concluded that Day was impaired. That officer informed Day she was under arrest for driving while impaired and she was taken downtown for chemical testing that showed she had a .25 blood alcohol content. In Minnesota, the legal alcohol concentration limit is 0.08.

She complained about her injuries and asked for medical attention, but none was provided. She ultimately spent 2½ days in Hennepin County Jail, the suit said.

The complaint included photos of her swollen and bruised arm.

After the interaction, Jensen and Chauvin then wrote up police reports that appeared to downplay the use of force.

They claimed that they ordered Day to exit the vehicle but, in the criminal case, Hennepin Count District Judge Julie Allyn viewed body camera video footage — which wasn't released to Day's attorneys — and concluded that Day was not given any orders before being pulled out, the suit said.

In Chauvin's police report, he wrote that he “pulled” Day from the driver’s seat and “pulled [her] facedown” onto the street, but didn’t report driving his knee into her back and pressing her into the ground, including after she was handcuffed. Neither Chauvin nor Jensen submitted a use-of-force report for the interaction or an injury report for Day.

Day was charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of third degree DWI from the incident, and her driver’s license was temporarily revoked.

An evidentiary hearing in that case was held in February 2021, when Chauvin was awaiting trial on state murder charges in the death of Floyd. Ultimately, the criminal charges in Day's case were dismissed over a lack of evidence and after the prosecution acknowledged that the city attorney’s office didn’t “condone the way that the interaction went down in this particular case,” the suit said.

Day ultimately had to undergo emergency tooth repair and had a sprained ankle and significant left arm and shoulder pain following the incident. She has also experienced “significantly increased anxiety” and now “seeing or hearing police cars is triggering,” the complaint said.

The suit, which was filed against both officers and the city of Minneapolis, alleges Fourth and 14th Amendment violations, and civil rights violations. It seeks a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages.

A pattern of excessive force

The complaint said that Chauvin had a “documented pattern of misconduct” which was ignored by the Minneapolis Police Department and city leaders. It listed other victims of Chauvin’s alleged use of excessive force, including John Pope and Zoya Code.

The complaint alleged the city knew its officers "were applying force to the necks and backs of prone (lying on their stomach) arrestees, despite the known, appreciated, and obvious risk of causing serious injury or death from positional asphyxia."

In Floyd's case, his death was ruled a homicide caused by “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” by the Hennepin County medical examiner. However, pathologists hired by Floyd's family determined his death was caused mechanical asphyxia.

Day's complaint accused the Minneapolis Police Department of a history of excessive force and listed excessive force cases filed against other officers, noting, “The city has paid nearly $80,000,000 in the last two decades as a result of the unconstitutional use of force by MPD officers.”

The city of Minneapolis ended up paying $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by Floyd’s family for Chauvin and other officers’ violation of his civil rights.

The complaint further claimed instances of misconduct were not properly investigated or addressed in a timely manner, and officers “are not consistently held accountable.”

It cited reports by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (published in April 2022) and the Justice Department (published in June 2023) that found the police department and the city itself engaged in a “pattern or practice” of excessive force and racial discrimination that violates both the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

Those probes ultimately resulted in a court order mandating “structural, policy, training, and oversight changes at the MPD,” the complaint said.

NBC News has reached out to the city of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Police Department and an attorney for Chauvin for comment on Day's suit.

In a press release, Day said: “Sadly, my experience with Derek Chauvin is not unique. 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. Other people have also had their civil rights violated, like Zoya Code and John Pope, showing his aggressive patterns. It was a traumatic part of my life that I hope no one else will have to endure.”