When Tim Met Mohamed

Back in 2017 in Minneapolis, Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of Australia and the United States, heard a woman being assaulted and called 911. When police arrived, Damond approached their car and Somali-born officer Mohamed Noor shot her dead. Expert witnesses testified that Noor’s use of force was objectionable, unreasonable and violated police policies and training.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) drew criticism for its investigation of the case. Gov. Tim Walz told reporters “I need to understand what happened here and what brought up those accusations, and to understand whether we can validate them, and if we do what are the processes to move to alleviate that.” Walz did not assign the case to state attorney general Keith Ellison, as he did with George Floyd in 2020.

Floyd was not a 911 caller but a criminal suspect with a lengthy record. The case drew nationwide protests but a police officer gunning down an innocent woman touched off little protest. Few if any reports considered the possibility that Mohamed Noor might be a racist, a DEI hire gone wrong, or an example of police violence. Comments on the case by Gov. Walz are hard to find.

A jury convicted Noor of third-degree murder and manslaughter, and sentenced him to 12½ years in prison. The Somali-American Police Association (SAPA) charged that “the institutional prejudices against people of color, including officers of color, have heavily influenced the verdict of this case.” In 2021, Minnesota’s highest court vacated the third-degree murder conviction and last year gave Noor 30 months’ credit for time served. Noor’s supervised release ended on January 24, 2024.

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