Policing
May 26, 2022 — Scott Johnson
As reporters ascertain what happened during the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, we have more to process. The Associated Press has reconstructed events outside the school during the shooting before and after the heroic Border Patrol agent entered the building. The AP story is “Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school.” The story opens: Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s
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May 23, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I wrote about the massive discrimination charge filed by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights against the Minneapolis Police Department on April 28 in “Who will speak for the MPD?” I noted in an update later that morning that I filed a request for inspection of the underlying documents under the Minnesota Data Practices Act. The Department of Human Rights denied my request in a response dated May 10 that
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May 21, 2022 — Scott Johnson
When the Minnesota Department of Human Rights filed its 72-page charge of discrimination against the beleaguered and undermanned Minneapolis Police Department, I submitted a Data Practices Act request with the department for public inspection of the 480,000 pages of documents underlying the charge. I do not take the department’s charge at face value for reasons I suggested in “Who will speak for the MPD?” On May 10 I heard back
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May 17, 2022 — Scott Johnson
John Kass has posted a new podcast with the invaluable Heather Mac Donald on the war on cops, Chicago edition. “Everything the public thinks it knows about race and policing in this country, reverse it, and you’re likely to get the truth,” she said. Kass comments that Chicago Mayor Lori “lightweight” Lightfoot has turned over the downtown to the Black Lives Matters rioters. And now, with mobs cruising the Loop
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May 12, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Liz Collin’s Alpha News story exposing the fraudulent story retailed by Toshira Garraway about the death of her fiancé, Justin Teigen — supposedly beaten to death by the St. Paul police in 2009 — deserves the clichéd appellation “bombshell.” Liz quotes Garraway in a local media interview: “They caught him. They beat him to death. They threw him in the garbage…” Etc., etc., rinse, wash, and repeat. Liz reports: “Teigen’s
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May 10, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I wrote a set of critical notes on the April 27 Minnesota Department of Human Rights charge (a/k/a “report”) finding probable cause against the Minneapolis Police Department in “Who will speak for the MPD?” The charge has received enormous publicity in the Minnesota press, yet it is at the least problematic. I wrote in my notes on the charge: “The report cites supporting materials including some 480,000 pages of documents,
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April 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
This afternoon I was able to reach Sergeant Sherral Schmidt, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. We discussed the pending Minnesota Department of Human Rights charge/report against the Minneapolis Police Department that I commented on in “Who will speak for the MPD?” After our conversation she forwarded the following statement at my request (below the break). I am grateful to be able to add her statement to our
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April 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was unaccountably denied a public defender to appeal his convictions in the death of George Floyd. Bill Mohrman answered my call for a Minnesota attorney to represent Chauvin on appeal. Bill filed his brief on behalf of Chauvin this week. It is posted online here. Derek Chauvin’s mother has set up a page to support the expenses of appeal here. Bill’s leading argument on
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April 28, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights has issued a 72-page charge finding probable cause to conclude that the Minneapolis Police Department has massively discriminated against blacks in the course of its enforcement duties. The department has an investigation page that links to its charge as well as its press summary. The Star Tribune is flooding the zone with coverage including an editorial that takes a pass on a key question:
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April 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
We followed the death of Amir Locke in the course of a no-knock raid by the Minneapolis Police Department here (February 7), here (February 9), and here (February 11). The Minneapolis police were in search of a murder suspect sought by the St. Paul police. Locke was an innocent victim of the raid when he pulled a gun on the officers and Officer Mark Hanneman shot him three times, as
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February 28, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Last week the jury returned guilty verdicts in the federal trial of the three former Minneapolis police officers — the officers other than Derek Chauvin, who pleaded guilty — charged with violating the civil rights of George Floyd in the arrest that resulted in his death. The jury found Tou Thao and Alexander Kueng guilty on each of the two counts against them and found Thomas Lane guilty on the
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February 23, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I went down to the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown St. Paul to view the attorneys’ closing arguments in the federal trial of the three former Minneapolis police officers other than Derek Chauvin charged with violating the civil rights of George Floyd in the arrest that resulted in his death. The three officers are Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane. I covered the scene
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February 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
With the Trudeau government’s declaration of emergency Canada’s Emergencies Act, Canada is under a form of martial law and one-man rule. The Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington leads his story on the latest from Ottawa with this: The violence the Prime Minister has expressed concern about during the three-week protest in Ottawa didn’t unfold until Justin Trudeau’s Emergencies Act police army was sent in to disperse the crowd. The three major
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February 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I wrote about the riots on Lake Street in Minneapolis this past Friday night here over the weekend. The Star Tribune hasn’t reported or editorialized on the riots. Instead they have published a brief op-ed column by Andy Brehm. Andy is a corporate attorney and former press secretary to then Senator Norm Coleman. To top it off, Andy lives in St. Paul. Andy’s column appears under the heading “Anarchy in
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February 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill has unsealed 16 pages of search warrant documents underlying the no-knock raid in which Amir Locke was killed last week. The papers lay out the no-knock rationale. St. Paul police sought assistance in their investigation of a deadly robbery that took the life of Otis Elder. They filed two warrant applications — the first for a regular warrant, the second for a no-knock “nighttime”
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February 9, 2022 — Scott Johnson
It turns out that the St. Paul Police Department was seeking to arrest 17-year old Mekhi C. Speed in a pending homicide case when it sought the search warrant that the Minneapolis Police Department executed in the form of a no-knock raid. The raid resulted in the death of Amir Locke, who himself was nothing more than an innocent bystander sleeping with a handgun when the police conducted the raid.
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February 7, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Amir Locke was killed in the course of the execution of a no-knock search warrant by Minneapolis police this past Wednesday. On Thursday evening the police released bodycam footage (in slow-motion and real time) from one of the officers executing the warrant (not the shooter). YouTube has made the video and several local news stories that include it age-restricted. As I write, the brief KARE 11 story below including some
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