MN - Jamar Clark, 24, shot by LE, Minneapolis, 15 Nov 2015

[K_Z]

NBC nightly news reporting National Guard has been called to respond to the situation at the precinct in Minneapolis, but local KARE11 reporter says there is no National Guard on the scene.

 

[Woodland]

OK - Minneapolis LE is using the 'JC tried to disarm an officer' defense. Maybe he was.

I guess the bullet trajectory is next if body cams were not available or not used or will not be released. No trial forthcoming with JC deceased. Was JC standing or lying down when the bullet entered his head? Were there any defensive wounds on his hands? Everyone should be aware of the facts imo with lethal use of force.

The family would be served well with an independent autopsy imo. Will work both for or against them and LE.

 

[K_Z]

MINNEAPOLIS (KSMP) - The head of the Minneapolis Police Union said Wednesday that Jamar Clark was disarming one of the officers and not wearing handcuffs when he was fatally shot in the head on Sunday.

Lt. Bob Kroll told reporters that “the suspect has a violent history” and “the officers have no discipline on their records.” The union also referenced that the last local officer killed was Aitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Steven Sandberg, who was disarmed and killed with his own gun.

http://www.fox9.com/news/51169866-story

<modsnip>

 

[Montjoy]

I guess the bullet trajectory is next if body cams were not available or not used or will not be released.

rsbm

JMO, but I think it should be a crime, just like driving without your physical license on you, for a LEO to be working without his bodycam/dashcam to be on. All too often it seems like bad cops "forget" to turn their bodycams on.

 

[K_Z]

ST. PAUL, Minn. - In a press conference Tuesday, Governor Dayton expressed concern over the dangers of the Black Lives Matter freeway protest and said he discussed the situation with his staff.

"I am very uncomfortable with the fact it happened. I deeply regret it happened," said Governor Dayton.

Dayton praised the Minnesota State Patrol for showing restraint and giving ample warning to the hundreds of protesters linking arms across 94 to block traffic during the sit-in.

Minnesota State Patrol spokesperson Lt. Tiffani Schweigart said the protest was even more dangerous with low level light conditions, heavy traffic, wet roadways and light rain. She stated the Minnesota State Patrol responded as soon as they knew people were entering the freeway, and some 24 law enforcement agencies helped control protesters.

"In the United States, we have ample opportunity for first amendment rights to be honored and ample space for protesters to occupy space that's safe for them, and the freeway is not one of those options," said Lt. Schweigart.

Lt. Schweigart said the protesters damaged trooper squad cars after throwing rocks and she said one trooper was punched by a protester who fled the scene.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/2015/11/17/complaints-aplenty-after-freeway-protest/75961176/

 

[K_Z]

No dash cam video or body camera video were taken of the incident, according to the BCA. Evans said there wasn't a camera in the squad car of the officers on scene.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/cr...r-clark-doesnt-show-entire-incident/75947500/

No one has said the officers were wearing body cams and didn't turn them on, or that they were issued cameras, and didn't wear them. All the commentary indicates they didn't have body cameras issued to wear. That's not the officers' fault. It's also not their fault their squad car didn't have a camera.

Let's remember that it was Jamar Clark who started this whole situation, by beating up his girlfriend at a party in front of a bunch of witnesses, then assaulted the paramedics who were called, then assaulted the police who responded and tried to "calm him down". Jamar Clark is career criminal, the one with multiple convictions for assault, drugs, armed robbery, making terroristic threats, etc. He wasn't exactly a "peaceful person" (his sister's words), nor was he minding his own business. He was engaged in multiple crimes when the police arrived. That's not the fault of the responding officers.

Police say Clark had been interfering with paramedics who had been called to a birthday party to aid Clark's girlfriend. According to a BCA statement, the responding Minneapolis police officers believed the woman was an assault victim and that Clark was a suspect.

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/11/17/51-arrested-in-shooting-protest-that-blocked-i94

...the pair had been at a party together and got into a fight, friends told Fox 9.

 

[Woodland]

Why a bullet?

 

[Woodland]

I'll believe damage to squad cars and a punch to a trooper if pics/video can be produced. Maybe it all happened, maybe it didn't. Difficult to tell imo.

 

[Montjoy]

Why a bullet?

Less trouble, fewer questions afterwards, especially if you're investigated by your colleagues.

 

[K_Z]

MINNEAPOLIS - As night fell over Minneapolis Wednesday, tensions between protesters and police rose to a new peak.

Around 6:30 p.m., protesters began surrounding the precinct, continuing chants, demanding justice in the shooting death of Jamar Clark. Police say protesters began throwing rocks, bricks, and bottles at officers. Police say officers have been hit, but none have needed medical attention. Shortly before 9 p.m., reports began to surface chemical irritants were being deployed, both from officers and protesters.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/2015/11/18/police-storm-4th-precinct-remove-protesters/76005158/

Minneapolis Police Department tweets:

https://twitter.com/MinneapolisPD

Chemical irritant was used again after officers trying to remove tarps had rocks and bottles thrown at them

Liz Sawyer &#8207;@ByLizSawyer 55m55 minutes ago
Liz Sawyer Retweeted Minneapolis Police

At this point it's clear it's coming from both sides -- based on mine and my colleagues observations. Liz Sawyer added,
Minneapolis Police @MinneapolisPD

At this point, 1 incident where chemical irritant was used and another incident where officer has been hit by irritant from outside

Minneapolis Police &#8207;@MinneapolisPD 1h1 hour ago
At this point, 1 incident where chemical irritant was used and another incident where officer has been hit by irritant from outside

Minneapolis Police &#8207;@MinneapolisPD 1h1 hour ago
Just to clarify, we have confirmed officers have been sprayed with chemical agent from people who are not officers

Minneapolis Police &#8207;@MinneapolisPD 2h2 hours ago
Police on the scene report the mace is coming from the crowd, not police.

Minneapolis Police &#8207;@MinneapolisPD 2h2 hours ago
Regards to marking round; still looking for suspect appearing on livestream with bandaged hand who admitted running from police & being hit
19 retweets 16 likes

Minneapolis Police &#8207;@MinneapolisPD 2h2 hours ago
MPD has fired one marking round, which hit intended target to mark suspect, adult male throwing bricks. 40 mm expends a paint round.

Livestream from local channel KARE11

http://www.kare11.com/videos/news/2013/11/20/3650815/

 

[Woodland]

None of the footage matches the tweets in the above post. No protesters using mace against LE and no arrests of protesters for criminal behavior. Makes no sense to me.

This is an article from early this morning - LE using mace, no mention of protesters doing the same. Video shows LE spraying chemical.

Minneapolis police said they deployed chemical irritants to disperse activists protesting the death of Jamar Clark ...

https://www.rt.com/usa/322654-police-chemicals-protesters-clark/

 

[Always Amazed]

Article from earlier this year regarding MPD use (or not) of bodycams:

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/10/body-cams

"The Minneapolis Police Department has finished testing body cameras and expects to start equipping more than 600 officers with them early next year. However, police leaders still have some big decisions to make: coming up with a policy detailing how officers will use the cameras."

 

[Always Amazed]

Article examining history of MPD excessive force/brutality issues and payouts:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...xt-great-police-brutality-controversy/416418/

"When she was appointed in 2012, Minnesota Monthly asked her about police-brutality issues. She replied:

There are two ways to change behavior: discipline and training. Give officers the skills and tools to do their job, and make sure we&#8217;re clear on what&#8217;s appropriate. I&#8217;ll be asking officers, in every encounter they have, to reflect on how they would want a family member to be treated&#8212;what language they&#8217;d use, what actions they&#8217;d take. That doesn&#8217;t mean force shouldn&#8217;t be used, but you need to ask, &#8220;Is it reasonable?&#8221;"

The Minnesota Monthly interview referenced above:

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/January-2013/A-Different-Kind-of-Cop/

 

[bluesneakers]

Article examining history of MPD excessive force/brutality issues and payouts:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...xt-great-police-brutality-controversy/416418/

"When she was appointed in 2012, Minnesota Monthly asked her about police-brutality issues. She replied:

There are two ways to change behavior: discipline and training. Give officers the skills and tools to do their job, and make sure we&#8217;re clear on what&#8217;s appropriate. I&#8217;ll be asking officers, in every encounter they have, to reflect on how they would want a family member to be treated&#8212;what language they&#8217;d use, what actions they&#8217;d take. That doesn&#8217;t mean force shouldn&#8217;t be used, but you need to ask, &#8220;Is it reasonable?&#8221;"

The Minnesota Monthly interview referenced above:

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/January-2013/A-Different-Kind-of-Cop/

I like the way she thinks.

The people we dealt with every day were homeless, addicted, victims of sexual or domestic abuse&#8212;arresting somebody isn&#8217;t going to fix that. We need to figure out why people are on the streets. Not to say we don&#8217;t need to make arrests. But officers can work with social services and neighborhoods to help solve the long-term issues.

You start by getting officers out of their cars. We generally walk beats in business districts and everyone else only sees officers on 911 calls, but I want to change that.

We need to tell our story better. We handle some 340,000 calls a year, and only a fraction go wrong&#8212;we get it right most of the time. But this goes largely unacknowledged. ...
people need to understand the good things that get done. As a citizen, I want to hear the bad but also the good, so I feel confident that things are being done right.

The answer to "Is it reasonable?" needs to be clearly defined because what the officers think is reasonable is often not, even if they get away with it. JMO. It will be interesting to see what happens to the officers involved in Jamar's shooting.

 

[Always Amazed]

The professors and the police: How a Minneapolis project may change the way cops everywhere relate to the public

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-p...apolis-project-may-change-way-cops-everywhere

"While she&#8217;s glad that Minneapolis was selected for the national initiative, Levy-Pounds does worry about the ability of those conducting it to effectively reach those who are most affected, she said, a job made more difficult because of continued behavior by police that has created hostility and mistrust.

&#8220;People feel under siege in their own neighborhoods,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I get calls all the time about people getting beaten, being arrested for minor offenses. It&#8217;s hard to build community trust and confidence when the department isn&#8217;t sensitive to what is still going on.&#8221;"

 

[Woodland]

The newspaper calculated that between 2006 and 2012, the city paid out $14 million for alleged police misconduct. Despite that staggering sum, reviews very rarely found police had done anything wrong.
Partly in response, Police Chief Janeé Harteau created a conduct-review office. (She also later convened a citizens&#8217; advisory council.) In its first 439 cases, not a single one ended with an officer being disciplined. In 2014, 943 complaints were filed against the Minneapolis Police Department&#8212;or almost 1.2 complaints for each of the department&#8217;s 800 officers&#8212;though the number has been dropping.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...xt-great-police-brutality-controversy/416418/

How does any city pay out $14 mil for 'alleged' police misconduct - or alleged anything? It either happened or it didn't - since payouts have been made, something was proved to have happened. Yet reviews found that rarely anything went wrong.

People believe that it cost $14 mil for correct and acceptable behavior? Wouldn't that 14 million be better spent on schools, shelters for abused spouses and children, creating jobs for youth etc...?
Right now the budget process for LE is - salaries + benefits + how many pending lawsuits will reach a conclusion this year that the city will have to pay out for? Insanity imo.

 

[bluesneakers]

The professors and the police: How a Minneapolis project may change the way cops everywhere relate to the public

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-p...apolis-project-may-change-way-cops-everywhere

"While she&#8217;s glad that Minneapolis was selected for the national initiative, Levy-Pounds does worry about the ability of those conducting it to effectively reach those who are most affected, she said, a job made more difficult because of continued behavior by police that has created hostility and mistrust.

&#8220;People feel under siege in their own neighborhoods,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I get calls all the time about people getting beaten, being arrested for minor offenses. It&#8217;s hard to build community trust and confidence when the department isn&#8217;t sensitive to what is still going on.&#8221;"

And... ? They pay people off and don't discipline the officers. It's hard to build community trust when the public sees 14 million in pay outs and no officers being disciplined. She sounds like she has such good ideas and her job means a lot to her, so what's going on?

 

[K_Z]

How badly did Jamar Clark hurt his girlfriend? Badly enough to need surgery, according to the NAACP president.

So maybe that puts Jamar Clark's assault of his GF, and "interference" and assault of the paramedics and police officers even more into perspective. The GF was injured badly enough to need surgery. We don't know what her other injuries were. And Jamar Clark was ACTIVELY trying to prevent the paramedics FROM HELPING HER. What a nice, peaceful guy, right?

Elder said that police are withholding the identity of the woman and details about her condition because &#8220;it is tied into the officer incident.&#8221;

Levy-Pounds said Thursday that the woman underwent surgery for a broken ankle.

http://www.startribune.com/naacp-to-speak-on-jamar-clark-s-death-after-night-of-clashes/351803771/

 

[K_Z]

IMO, the story that Jamar Clark was "in handcuffs" will turn out to be proven to be as much of a lie as the "hands up" lie that was started and proliferated in the Michael Brown case.

There is not a shred of evidence Jamar Clark was ever in handcuffs in THIS incident (although there is no doubt he has been in handcuffs and arrested many times before). With all the people at the scene with cell phones, not a single still photo or video of him in handcuffs, or even laying on the ground, has surfaced. There is a reason for that, IMO. They don't exist.

And the mayor and police chief know that if they release that information too soon, while tensions are high among the "protesters", and the riot potential is so high, we will end up with a firestorm riot like Baltimore. IMO.

They will wait a few weeks until the protests die down to announce that JC was never in handcuffs, and release the video that exists, IMO. I seriously doubt the officers will be charged with anything. There was only ONE bullet fired, and I think the forensics and video will support the officers. They very carefully did not release any information about the bullet forensics, or which officer fired, and which officer's gun JC was attempting to take.

 

[bluesneakers]

What is it going to take to get the police to stop assaulting citizens? It's really not, imo, too much to ask.

Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds said Thursday they received reports that two female protesters were beaten by police in an alley during Wednesday night's protests.

"They reported that they were in an alley and they were physically beaten by members of the Minneapolis Police," she said. "We have heard that it was on video so we're asking for people to come forward with the video at this time."

It wasn't enough they killed a man, now they have to beat up the people who want justice and accountability.

"It's hard to tell, are these real guns? Are these rubber bullets? At the end of the day, it shows a militarization of the police force in the city of Minneapolis and it is a response that is completely uncalled for," she said.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/lo...lice-violence-demands-mpd-restraint/76050746/