JULY 14, 2023:
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — Minneapolis must enact police reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, after a judge on Thursday (July 13, 2023) approved a settlement agreement between the city and the state Human Rights Department.
The Star Tribune reported that Hennepin County Judge Karen Janisch signed the settlement, which calls for de-escalation whenever possible, limits on the use of tear gas and other chemical agents, and an end to police stops for broken taillights and searches based on the smell of marijuana.
“This is a huge framework. There is going to be a lot of work that the city is going to be doing in the near future,” Janisch said. “I hope that the city is up to that task and that you can find good people to be able to carry this forward.”
The Human Rights Department began investigating shortly after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020, disregarding the Black man’s fading pleas that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death sparked mass protests around the world, forced a national reckoning on racial injustice, and compelled a Minneapolis Police Department overhaul.
Minnesota’s Human Rights agency issued a blistering report last year after its investigation found the police department had engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade. The U.S. Justice Department, which also launched a similar investigation, issued a withering critique of the department in June, alleging that officers systematically discriminated against racial minorities, violated constitutional rights and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before Floyd was killed.
Under the agreement with the state, training in the disputed condition of excited delirium — a key issue in the confrontation that led to Floyd’s death — will be banned.
The settlement also governs the use of body-worn and dashboard cameras; officer wellness; and response to mental health and behavioral crises. An independent evaluator must be appointed to monitor compliance.
“This comes after we spent months with the city negotiating and engaging with and hearing from community members and police officers and bringing their ideas right to the negotiating table to then implement into the consent decree,” Minnesota Human Rights Department spokesperson Taylor Putz said.
Janisch approved the settlement despite calls for revisions by some police accountability groups concerned that it will be too easy for the police union to sidestep changes and that it could mean softer police disciplinary measures are hidden from the public.
Police watchdog group Communities United Against Police Brutality praised most of the consent decree but questioned select clauses stating that “nothing in this agreement will be interpreted as obligating the city or any unions to violate and/or waive any rights or obligations under the terms of the collective bargaining agreements.”
“That means cops can sidestep anything in this consent decree by putting it in their union contract,” volunteer Andrew Kluis told attendees at a community review of the settlement agreement last month.
Floyd, 46, was arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car, and though he was already handcuffed, they forced him on the ground.
Chauvin was convicted of murder in April 2021 and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years on that charge. He also pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years in that case. He is serving those sentences in Tucson, Arizona. Three other officers at the scene are all serving prison sentences for their roles in the case.
JUNE 19, 2023:
UNDATED (AP)- The Justice Department has issued a scathing assessment of Minneapolis police, alleging that racial discrimination and excessive force went unchecked before George Floyd’s killing because of inadequate oversight and an unwieldy process for investigating complaints. The investigation found numerous examples of excessive force, unlawful discrimination and First Amendment violations. It also documented rampant racism and racial profiling. Mental health crises often were made worse when police responded. Investigations into police misconduct took months and sometimes years, and frequently failed to take into account corroborating video evidence, while supervisors were quick to back their subordinates. The DOJ probe began in 2021.
Extended version:
UNDATED (AP)-The Justice Department on Friday (June 16, 2023) issued a scathing assessment of Minneapolis police, alleging that racial discrimination and excessive force went unchecked before George Floyd’s killing because of inadequate oversight and an unwieldy process for investigating complaints.
The probe began in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of Floyd, a Black man. Floyd, who was in handcuffs, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before going limp as Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes. The killing was recorded by a bystander and sparked months of mass protests as part of a broader national reckoning over racial injustice.
Here are six takeaways from the report:
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE INVESTIGATION?
The focus of the probe was to examine whether there has been a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing in the Minneapolis Police Department. It examined the use of force by officers, including during protests, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. It also looked at the handling of misconduct allegations, treatment of people with behavioral health issues and systems of accountability.
WHAT WERE THE KEY FINDINGS?
Investigators found numerous examples of excessive force, unlawful discrimination and First Amendment violations. They reviewed 19 police shootings and determined that officers sometimes fired without first determining whether there was an immediate threat of harm to the officers or others.
In 2017, for example, an officer fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an unarmed white Australian-born woman who “spooked” him when she approached his squad car, according to the report. She had called 911 to report a possible rape behind her house. The city paid $20 million to settle with her family.
In another case, officers shot a suspect after he started stabbing himself in the neck in a police station interview room.
Officers also used neck restraints like the one Chauvin used on Floyd 198 times between Jan. 1, 2016, and Aug. 16, 2022, including 44 instances that didn’t require an arrest. Some officers continued to use neck restraints even after they were banned in the wake of Floyd’s killing, the report said.
At protests, it found, people were sometimes shot with rubber bullets when they were committing no crime or were dispersing. According to the report, one journalist was hit by a rubber bullet and lost her eye, while another was shoved to the pavement while filming and pepper-sprayed in the face. One protester was shoved so hard that she fell backward, hit the pavement and lay unconscious for three minutes.
WHAT DID INVESTIGATORS FIND ABOUT RACIAL BIAS IN POLICING?
The report documented rampant racism and racial profiling in the department, with Black drivers more than six times more likely to be stopped than white ones.
The racism also extended to arrests.
When one Black teen was held at gunpoint for allegedly stealing a $5 burrito, the teen asked the plainclothes officer if he was indeed police. “Really?” the officer responded, according to a video recording. “How many white people in the city of Minneapolis have you run up against with a gun?”
In another case, a woman reported that an officer said to her that the Black Lives Matter movement was a “terrorist” organization. “We are going to make sure you and all of the Black Lives supporters are wiped off the face of the Earth,” she recalled him saying. Her complaint against the officer was closed by the department with a finding of “no merit.”
HOW DID THE DEPARTMENT TREAT THE MENTALLY ILL?
Mental health crises often were made worse when police responded, investigators found.
In 2017, for instance, officers encountered an unarmed man in the midst of what neighbors described as a mental health episode. He initially paced around his yard, yelling. After complying with orders to sit on his front steps, an officer fired his taser without warning.
In another case, a mother called 911 to report that her adult daughter, a Black woman with bipolar disorder, was attempting to hurt herself by lying in the road. By the time officers got there, the woman was calmly walking through a park. The officers nevertheless grabbed her, and she began yelling and pulled away. The woman was then put in a neck restraint as her mother pleaded, “Don’t choke her like that!”
HOW DID OFFICERS GET AWAY WITH MISCONDUCT?
Investigations into police misconduct took months and sometimes years, according to the report. And those conducting the inquiries frequently failed to view video corroborating public complaints.
Supervisors also were quick to back their subordinates. In one case, an officer tased a man eight times without pausing even as the man protested that he was doing “exactly” what he was told. The supervisor found no policy violations and told the man after the fact that if he hadn’t been resisting, “they wouldn’t have had to strike you.”
The report also highlighted the case of John Pope, who was just 14 when Chauvin struck him in the head with a flashlight multiple times and pinned him to a wall by his throat. He then knelt on the Black teen, as his mother pleaded, “Please do not kill my son.” Chauvin, the report found, kept his knee on the teen’s neck or back for over 15 minutes.
But due to poor supervision and a failed internal investigation, commanders did not learn what had happened to Pope until three years later, after Chauvin killed Floyd, the report said. The city ultimately agreed to settle a lawsuit in the case for $7.5 million.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
The report noted that the department has made some improvements, such as banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants, training officers on the duty to intervene and sending mental health workers to some incidents. But it said there is still work to be done.
As a result of the investigation, the city and the police department agreed to a deal known as a federal consent decree, which will require reforms to be overseen by an independent monitor and approved by a federal judge. That arrangement is similar to previous interventions in cities such as Seattle, New Orleans, Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri.
JUNE 16, 2023:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to announce the findings of a two-year investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, prompted by the death of George Floyd. The investigation was launched in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in the May 2020 killing of Floyd, whose death sparked months of mass protests over racial injustice. Details of Garland’s Friday announcement have not been publicized in advance. A Justice Department advisory says Garland will be joined by Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and others.
Extended version:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The findings of a two-year investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, prompted by the death of George Floyd, are expected to be announced Friday by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Department of Justice on Thursday announced a news conference “on a civil rights matter” was scheduled for Friday morning at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis. Justice Department and city officials declined to confirm about whether they will announce findings of that police department investigation.
A Justice Department advisory said Garland will be joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Police Chief Brian O’Hara and others. A link to a Justice Department public webinar scheduled for Friday afternoon has the heading: “DOJ Presentation for MPD Investigative Findings.”
The “pattern or practice” investigation was launched in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of Floyd, who was Black.
Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before going limp as Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes.
The killing was recorded by a bystander and sparked months of mass protests as part of a broader national reckoning over racial injustice.
The federal investigation concerns whether the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. Such investigations typically look at the use of force by officers, including force used during protests, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. The investigation also was expected to assess the way the department handled misconduct allegations and how it held officers accountable.
A similar investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights led to a “court-enforceable settlement agreement” to address the long list of problems identified in the report, with input from residents, officers, city staff and others. Frey and state Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero signed the agreement in March.
The state investigation, which concluded in April 2022, found “significant racial disparities with respect to officers’ use of force, traffic stops, searches, citations, and arrests.” And it criticized “an organizational culture where some officers and supervisors use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language with impunity.”
Lucero said the legally binding agreement requires the city and the police department to make “transformational changes” to fix the organizational culture of the force, noting it could serve as a model for how cities, police departments and community members elsewhere work to stop race-based policing.
The federal investigation could prompt a separate but similar court-enforceable agreement, known as a consent decree, that would overlap the settlement with the state. Several police departments in other cities, such as Seattle, operate under consent decrees for alleged civil rights violations.
Floyd, 46, was arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car, and though he was already handcuffed, they forced him on the ground. As Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck, J. Alexander Kueng held Floyd’s back, Thomas Lane held Floyd’s feet and Tou Thao kept bystanders back.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years for murder. He also pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years in that case. He is serving the sentences concurrently at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona.
Kueng, Lane and Thao were convicted of federal charges in February 2022. All three were convicted of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care, and Thao and Kueng also were convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the killing. Lane and Kueng have since pleaded guilty to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, counts of aiding and abetting murder were dropped.
Lane, who is white, is serving his 2 1/2-year federal sentence at a facility in Colorado. He is serving a three-year state sentence at the same time. Kueng, who is Black, is serving a three-year federal sentence in Ohio, while also serving a 3 1/2-year state sentence.
Thao, who is Hmong American, received a 3 1/2-year federal sentence. In May, the judge in the state case found him guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Thao had said it “would be lying” to have pleaded guilty and he agreed to let the judge decide the case. The judge set sentencing for Aug. 7.
MAY 25, 2023:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police was three years ago today, and the fervent protests that erupted around the world in response, seemed like the catalyst needed for a nationwide reckoning on racism in policing. Along with a few other cities, Minneapolis has issued bans on chokeholds and neck restraints, and restrictions on no-knock warrants. But activist calls to defund the police, and to hold officers accountable have mostly failed. The killing of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police earlier this year underscored just how long it’s taking to achieve meaningful change. There will be a candlelight vigil Thursday (May 25, 2023) at George Floyd Square.
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