Minneapolis Mayor Seeks Federal Investigation Into Shooting

The may­or of Minneapolis on Monday asked for a fed­er­al civ­il rights inves­ti­ga­tion into the week­end shoot­ing of a black man by a police offi­cer dur­ing an appar­ent struggle.

Mayor Betsy Hodges said she wrote to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and to the U.S. attor­ney for Minnesota seek­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion in the “inter­est of trans­paren­cy and com­mu­ni­ty con­fi­dence.” The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is already con­duct­ing a crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion, but Hodges said the city needs “all the tools we have avail­able to us.”

Authorities have released few details about the shoot­ing, which has angered some com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers after wit­ness­es said the man was hand­cuffed when he was shot. Police said their ini­tial infor­ma­tion showed the man, a sus­pect in an assault, was not hand­cuffed. He was tak­en to a hos­pi­tal after the shoot­ing, and his fam­i­ly says he is on life support.

The inci­dent sparked protests Sunday and an overnight encamp­ment at the north Minneapolis police precinct near the site of the shoot­ing. Community mem­bers and activists called for a fed­er­al inves­ti­ga­tion, as well as for author­i­ties to release video of the inci­dent and the offi­cer’s identity.

Protests con­tin­ued Monday, with a few hun­dred peo­ple gath­er­ing at an evening ral­ly out­side the same precinct, beat­ing a drum and chant­i­ng for jus­tice. At least eight tents were set up out­side, and a hand­ful of pro­test­ers were sit­ting behind glass doors in the foy­er, includ­ing one who was knitting.

“We’re still not mov­ing until we get that footage,” said Michael McDowell, a mem­ber of Black Lives Matter.

Later, hun­dreds of demon­stra­tors blocked Interstate 94, shut­ting down the north­bound lanes.

Two offi­cers are on paid leave, stan­dard prac­tice after such an inci­dent. Police Chief Janee Harteau said the offi­cers were not wear­ing body cam­eras, but declined to say whether squad car or sur­veil­lance video was avail­able, cit­ing the ongo­ing investigation.

Nekima Levy-Pounds, pres­i­dent of the Minneapolis chap­ter of the NAACP, called the civ­il rights request a step in the right direc­tion, “giv­en that we do not trust Minnesota law enforce­ment offi­cials to hold them­selves accountable.”

Police said they were called to north Minneapolis around 12:45 a.m. Sunday fol­low­ing a report of an assault. When they arrived, a man was inter­fer­ing with para­medics help­ing the vic­tim, police said. Officers tried to calm him, but there was a strug­gle. At some point, an offi­cer fired at least once, hit­ting the man, police said.

Authorities have not released the man’s name, but fam­i­ly mem­bers iden­ti­fied him as Jamar Clark, 24, and said he was on life sup­port. His father, James Hill, told The Associated Press that his son suf­fered a sin­gle gun­shot wound over his left eye.

Ramona Dohman, the com­mis­sion­er of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the offi­cers’ iden­ti­ties would be released after inves­ti­ga­tors inter­view them. She declined to say how long the inves­ti­ga­tion could take.

Harteau said she wel­comed a fed­er­al investigation.

“Everyone involved needs and deserves the truth and the facts,” she said.

Gov. Mark Dayton also issued a state­ment say­ing he sup­port­ed the request for a fed­er­al probe.

Authorities said a win­dow at the precinct was bro­ken amid the protests and two police vehi­cles were dam­aged, includ­ing a marked squad car in which all the win­dows and a cam­era were bro­ken, and an exple­tive was scratched into the hood. One per­son was arrest­ed in con­nec­tion with dam­age to an unmarked police car.

The protests are just the lat­est expres­sion of ten­sion between the depart­ment and minori­ties in the city.

Outrage and a civ­il law­suit fol­lowed the 2013 death of 22-year-old Terrance Franklin, a bur­glary sus­pect whom police pur­sued and shot in a Minneapolis base­ment. A grand jury declined to indict the offi­cers involved.

In 2014, promi­nent civ­il rights activist Al Flowers com­plained of being the vic­tim of bru­tal­i­ty when police served a war­rant on a rel­a­tive at his home. Police say Flowers insti­gat­ed their aggression.

The rocky rela­tions have led to dis­cus­sions between police and minori­ties and the cre­ation of task forces designed to quell con­cerns. This spring, Minneapolis was select­ed for a fed­er­alJustice Department pro­gram to rebuild trust between police and the com­mu­ni­ties they patrol.

KG Wilson, a peace activist who retired weeks ago after 11 years of build­ing rela­tion­ships between the com­mu­ni­ty and the police depart­ment, said he’s hurt by the reac­tion he is see­ing and dis­agrees with the protests.

“I hate that this is going on right now. My heart is so crushed. I have not stopped cry­ing,” he said, adding that some pro­test­ers are look­ing for an excuse to be angry. “I think every­thing is being gone about in the wrong way. … Peace is always the way. You can’t bring peace with aggression.”
Minneapolis Mayor Seeks Federal Investigation Into Shooting By AMY FORLITI AND KYLE POTTER, ASSOCIATED PRES