Witnesses to the shooting just after midnight Sunday said the man was handcuffed when he was shot, which led to protests and an overnight encampment outside a police precinct on the city’s north side. Civil rights leaders appealed Thursday, November 19, 2015, for Minneapolis police to exercise restraint but the head of the police union said officers should get tougher with protesters after a night of tense confrontations over the fatal shooting of a black man by an officer.
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A circle of more than 100 people gathered in front of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fourth Precinct on Thursday night, chanting, “Show us the tapes”. A grand jury cleared officers in his death, but Levy-Pounds called it “a case of murder of a young African-American man at the hands of Minneapolis police”.
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, was not scheduled to speak on the city council agenda.
At around 12:45 a.m. Sunday, officers Mark Ringgenberg, 30, and Dustin Schwarze, 28, responded to a call for help from paramedics when they confronted Clark.
Black Lives Matter said they “left without incident” after being questioned on live video streams by community members.
A video sent to BringMeTheNews shows the scene inside the Minneapolis Fourth Precinct when it was under attack from what the police chief described as “anarchists” early Thursday. “We also received multiple complaints from residents who were unable to gain entry to speak with our officers and investigators”.
A few community members allege that Clarke was handcuffed when he was shot, which police dispute.
Three activists were escorted from a Minneapolis City Council meeting Friday after speaking out about Clark’s shooting. “Justice! For who? Jamar!” He was shot by a police officer in what authorities say was a scuffle.
In a statement following the shooting, the Minneapolis Police Department said, “A physical altercation took place with the suspect, who was not in handcuffs”. “We must come together to heal our community and wok together toward justice and fairness”.
Dayton met with Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, national and local leaders of the NAACP, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, and other officials to address the shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark and the protests that have been happening in recent days.
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NAACP President Cornell William Brooks is in the Twin Cities seeking a peaceful solution, organization spokeswoman Raquel Coombs said.
