Who can take a city, burn it to the ground? The Umbrella Man can, at least according to the search warrant application/affidavit filed by Minneapolis police officer Erika Christensen this past summer.
Star Tribune reporter Libor Jany told me he came across Christensen’s affidavit in a routine review of court filings. Libor reported on the allegations of Christensen’s affidavit in his July 28 story “Minneapolis police say ‘Umbrella Man’ was a white supremacist trying to incite George Floyd rioting.” The story made waves around the world.
According to Officer Christensen, Umbrella Man is a white supremacist who set off the week of riots and arson throughout the Twin Cities by knocking out the windows at AutoZone on Lake Street at Minnehaha Avenue in south Minneapolis on May 27. Did Umbrella Man also burn the AutoZone down? I can’t tell who burnt it down from Libor’s story, but it was in fact torched.
Libor quoted Christensen’s affidavit: “This was the first fire that set off a string of fires and looting throughout the precinct and the rest of the city.” Umbrella Man himself does not seem to have committed the arson that destroyed the AutoZone premises. Below is the tweet with the video featuring Umbrella Man at work.
This video was removed from YouTube. It shows exactly who broke windows at AutoZone. Please retweet and help identify the instigator. #JusticeForFloyd pic.twitter.com/D17kGL404J
— Javier Morillo 🇵🇷🏳️🌈 (@javimorillo) May 28, 2020
Nearly nine months later, Umbrella Man has not been arrested. Charges have not been brought against him. Umbrella Man remains at large. Libor did not identify him in his July 28 story because he has not been charged.
Officer Christensen’s account of events was taken at face value in the numerous news accounts that immediately followed the Star Tribune story, but it is ludicrous. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is responsible for the key event that led to the destruction wrought throughout the Twin Cities following the death of George Floyd. The key event was the abandonment of the Third Precinct headquarters on May 28.
Mayor Frey too remains at large. His dereliction was not illegal.
Spectator USA’s pseudonymous Cockburn conducted a reality check in “The curious Umbrella Man myth.” Subhead: “Cockburn hasn’t seen this many people excited about an umbrella since Mary Poppins hit theaters in 1964.” Cockburn drily noted at the time: “Cockburn would have thought that the carnage of the past month would render one man’s window smashing a historical footnote. But instead, the opposite has happened, for the usual 2020 reason: it is politically useful.”
Officer Christensen’s affidavit superimposed a mythical narrative over the events as we saw them unfold. Cockburn observed that it took him “just a single minute on Google to discover rioting and destruction from May 26 — the day before Umbrella Man supposedly kicked everything off.”
Whatever happened to Umbrella Man? He is identified by name and cell phone number in Officer Christensen’s affidavit. He appears to be a bad dude, but did he do more than is depicted in the video above? The Minneapolis police department says its investigation is continuing.
Reviewing Officer Christensen’s affidavit, I am not surprised that Umbrella Man is still on the loose. I will take a look at Officer Christensen’s affidavit in a subsequent post.
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