Vaseline6 hours ago
Newly released city documents, first reported By the Star Stand, show that at least a dozen Minneapolis police officers have been disciplined for misconduct in the days of demonstrations and riots following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020.
Many more people left the department before the investigation into their conduct was completed, short-circuiting the process.
Here are five lessons from the discipline dump:
1. We might never have known what really happened to Jaleel Stallings if he hadn’t been able to hire a good lawyer.
MPD’s response to Jaleel Stallings’ curfew violation was botched from start to finish:
SWAT team Unit 1281 was assigned to “smash” anyone they saw after curfew on May 30, 2020. joked and laughed as they punctured car tires, mocked protesters and fired rubber bullets at people. They made racist comments, mocked the press and celebrated direct hits with their rubber bullets.
As they drove through Lake Street and 14th Avenue in an unmarked, white van, they immediately shot at people standing in a parking lot, hitting Stallings, who fired back with his gun, thinking they were white supremacists with real guns. Stallings, an Army veteran with a gun permit, said he purposely failed to deter them.
But when the officers got out of the van and shouted “shots fired,” Stallings fell to the ground and held out his arms to surrender. Two officers still beat him for about 30 seconds.
Another man who had been standing near Stallings, Virgil Jackson Jr., was beaten and shocked with a Taser for two minutes.
And yet, Sergeant. Kevin Angerhofer – who oversaw all the SWAT teams that night – failed to do the things a supervisor should do after police use of force: he failed to assess their use of force on the scene and to inform the SWAT team was sent home for the night. He failed to warn Internal Affairs and command staff that their use of force may have been unreasonable.
Several days later, after Internal Affairs notified Angerhofer that the review had not yet been completed, he prepared an abbreviated report that he described as “checking a box.” He was suspended for 60 hours before that.
Even after Stallings was tried and acquitted, it was only afterward that MPD began an internal investigation Reformer from Minnesota published a story on September 1, 2021 about Stallings’ acquittal on eight charges, including attempted murder of police officers.
Without Jaleel Stallings attorney Eric Rice’s successful defense of Stallings, none of the officers involved in the brutal beating of Stallings on Lake Street would have ever faced the consequences.
2. Interim Chief Amelia Huffman disciplined many of these officers in August 2022.
Huffman stepped in as chief temporarily in December 2021 after former chief Medaria Arradondo retired.
She urged hiring dozens of police officers and working with other agencies to fight crime. But her tenure was quickly overshadowed by the February 2022 police murder of Amir Locke22, following a no-knock warrant in search of a murder suspect.
City discipline documents show Huffman signed the discipline for multiple officers nearly two years ago:
- Justin Stetson used to be dismissed for using unreasonable force on Stallings when he fired rubber bullets at him and then repeatedly struck him in the head and face for approximately 30 seconds, even though Stallings did not resist arrest.
- Kristof Daub used to be suspended for 40 hours for using unreasonable force on pedestrians — by firing rubber bullets at them — a block east of the Stallings incident, saying he believed they had looted a boarded-up building. But CCTV footage did not show that they were involved in any activity that would justify such violence; some people even seemed to be just walking along a sidewalk.
- Michael Osbeck used to be suspended 40 hours for using unreasonable force on Stallings and Jackson, kicking Jackson twice in the hip even though four officers had control of Jackson, with one shocking him with a Taser as he lay on the ground.
- Tyler Klund used to be suspended For 120 hours for not turning on his body camera video and for using unreasonable force by kicking Stallings even though two other officers were already arresting him. He then lowered Jackson’s hip and punched him in the head several times, even though other officers were already dealing with Jackson. Klund told investigators: “When I heard gunshots aimed at our team, I feared for my life and that of my partners. My sole focus was to quickly locate and arrest the suspect(s) before any officers were injured.
- Michael Pfaff used to be suspended for 80 hours for the use of unreasonable force and failing to activate his body camera when responding to the Stallings incident. He stunned Jackson with his Taser and Tasered the man nine times in 54 seconds, even though two officers were already arresting him.
“Nine repeated requests were prima facie unreasonable,” Huffman wrote.
We only recently learned about Huffman’s disciplinary decisions because they won’t be made public until the full grievance process — in which the police union can appeal decisions — is complete. And even then, the documents are heavily redacted.
3. Former police chief Medaria Arradondo fired an officer for pepper-spraying a reporter.
Sergeant Ronald Stenersonwas an old officer dismissed in April 2021 after pepper spray a Vice News reporter who had his hands up and shouted, “Busy!” earlier the night the Stallings incident occurred, May 30, 2020. A SWAT team member had pushed the reporter to the ground, and as he lay there, holding up his press card, Stenerson sprayed him in the face and walked away. Other body camera videos showed him spraying others before that.
City documents show Stenerson admitted he did it, didn’t document it and didn’t activate his body-worn camera before or after.
4. Leaving the force turned out to be the right move for a number of officers
Sergeant Andreas Bittel was a central figure in the Stallings incident, and yet, because he left the force, he walked away largely unscathed.
Meanwhile, Officer Justin Stetson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor charges, and was sentenced to 15 days in the county workhouse, ordered to pay a $3,078 court fine, and banned from serving in law enforcement.
Stetson did most of the damage and was the only officer charged, even though about a half-dozen officers were involved. Bittell has never been charged with a crime.
But he was the leader of the SWAT team in question, and before their white, unmarked van drove down Lake Street that evening, Bittell told the unit, “Okay, we’re driving down Lake Street. The first f***ers we see, we just hit them with 40s” – referring to 40mm launchers or bullets, or rubber bullets.
Earlier that evening, Bittell punctured vehicles’ tires and ordered his officers to puncture two tires, as people could easily change one flat tire.
He ordered the white van’s lights to be turned off as they drove slowly down Lake Street. As the van approached a gas station. Bittell said, “Let them have it guys!”
“There, get ’em, get ’em, get ’em, hit ’em, hit ’em!” he ordered as the officers fired their plastic bullet launchers without warning. They later learned that they shot at the gas station owner, at neighbors and relatives who were protecting the station from further looting, and at the Vice News news reporter.
They then proceeded to where Stallings and others were standing, and immediately fired upon them. After Stallings fired back at the van, Bittell knelt and punched Stallings in the stomach, chest and back for about 30 seconds. Midway through the beating, Stetson told Stallings to put his arms behind his back, and after handcuffing him, Bittell stood him up and kicked him in the ribs as Stetson continued to punch him in the head.
Even after Bittell told Stetson to stop hitting Stallings, he continued until Bittell grabbed his hand and said, “It’s okay.”
Like other officers, Bittell left the force before he could be disciplined for misconduct. Multiple retired some claim to have been disabled early on, and now receive pensions, as well as city employee compensation benefits.
Although the Minneapolis City Council finally had enough in October, and turned down a $145,000 workers’ compensation settlement with Bittell. There is now a lawsuit against it and it could cost the city even more money.
5. All this is taking way too long.
Much of this misconduct occurred in the days following Floyd’s murder in the spring of 2020. four years past.
The fact that we have yet to see any definitive action on these misconduct complaints is further evidence of what is going on Reformer reported in 2020: The city is very bad at getting rid of bad cops in a timely manner.
As Max Nesterak reported at the time, department leaders are often blind to numerous warning signs from problem officials; managers are often unaware that their subordinates are being investigated for misconduct; city data on misconduct is often disorganized and contradictory; and very rarely are officers disciplined.
Due to a backlog, investigations can take years and disciplinary decisions are only made public after all appeals have been exhausted. So the public doesn’t know what happened to the officers who spent years spraying protesters or beating curfew violators — and that’s only if the officers involved don’t resign, ending the investigation.
What is unknown is how many officers were referred to what MPD calls “coaching” after the riot response.
Coaching is an alternative to discipline, and because it is not officially a discipline, there is no public record of it. MPD has used coaching in the past to resolve serious complaints, such as assaulting a teenager for shoplifting.
The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information is suing the city of Minneapolis to make coaching records public.