The feds just announced they would not bring civil rights charges against the Minneapolis cops in the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man. A young man has died and it is a tragedy.
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“We are exhausted of what is happening, and what feels like the Jim Crow North”, Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds told reporters after U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said there was insufficient evidence to support criminal civil rights charges against the two officers.
The findings of an internal police investigation are expected to be released at some point, now that the results of the federal investigation have been announced. They will determine whether the officers intentionally violated Clark’s civil rights through excessive force.
In March, hundreds of protesters took to the streets after authorities said that there would be no criminal charges against the officers.
Janee Harteau, the police chief, said in a statement that she had “full faith in this independent investigation”. “Clark ultimately dictated the circumstances of the situation, and the officers’ actions were necessary to prevent injury or death to themselves or others”, Kroll said in a news release.
Their objectives are to vote elected officials out of office, get new people to run for office, work on economic disparities between blacks and whites and create jobs for minority youth. She says community members are exhausted of what is happening and what feels like “the Jim Crow North”, a historical reference to prior laws enforcing racial segregation in the South. An earlier state review found Schwarze and Ringgenberg acted lawfully.
Nekima Levy-Pounds, head of the Minneapolis NAACP, decried the announcement, telling reporters that “they don’t want to give us justice”, the Star Tribune reported. Minneapolis police have said that Jamar Clark had reached for an officer’s gun during a struggle. The encounter lasted barely more than a minute from the time the officers arrived. The officers tried to handcuff him but failed.
“Although Clark’s death is undeniably tragic, the evidence is insufficient to meet these substantial evidentiary requirements”.
Hennepin County attorneys declined to press charges against the officers for lack of evidence.
Luger said their investigation concluded that Clark was not handcuffed when he was shot.
Luger said handcuffs recovered from the scene were tested for DNA, but could not be connected to Clark.
Among the reasons prosecutors and legal experts cited to the Trib were an 1866 law and a 1945 Supreme Court ruling that require prosecutors to show officers “willfully” violate someone’s civil rights.
In this October 20, 2015, file photo, friends and family of Corey Jones attend a news conference led by Bishop Sylvester Banks, Sr., grandfather of Jones, outside Bible Church of God in Boynton Beach, Fla. His death sparked weeks of protests. Mayor Betsy Hodges had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Clark’s death, which triggered massive protests and gained nationwide attention.
Levy-Pounds decried the fact that activists were not allowed into the news conference, and she said on Facebook that the group would decline an invitation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and US attorney for a private meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Some onlookers said Clark was handcuffed when he was shot. But Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman declined to charge the officers. He said forensic evidence backed their accounts that Clark wasn’t handcuffed and had his hand on an officer’s gun. “It is not enough to show that the officer made a mistake, acted negligently, acted by accident or mistake or even exercised bad judgment”.
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