So far there has not been any of the violence other U.S. cities have faced after police shootings like the havoc wrecked in Ferguson, in Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.
Advertisement
Ringgenberg is one of two officers identified Wednesday as involved in the shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark.
According to police reports, Minneapolis Police officers were responding to an altercation in the early morning hours of November 15th when Clark was shot in the head. They removed a shelter canopy that protesters had set up and dumped water on a campfire, but left the roughly 18 tents untouched before forming a wall in front of the precinct’s entrance.
Protestors also want all video of the shooting and the names of the officers involved released.
The protests are just the latest expression of tension between the department and minorities in the city.
Protesters said police rushed into the vestibule and roughly evicted them.
The police story was different. Evans said there is no police dashcam video of the shooting.
They pulled down a pop-up shelter and doused a bonfire, prompting protesters to chant, “Shame on you!” before relighting the flame.
The sister of an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police during a confrontation says the family appreciates the protests on behalf of her brother but isn’t participating.
“Minneapolis police have said that Mr. Clark was a suspect in the assault”. Jamar Clark was shot and killed by a Minneapoli…
Demonstrations continued on Wednesday night, with police telling local media that officers sustained minor injuries and a few squad cars receiving “significant damage” from bricks.
There is conflict about what happened in the crucial few seconds between the police arriving and Mr Clark being shot.
“If things escalate, then our response has to escalate”, Harteau said. A few protesters had been sleeping in the precinct vestibule. A federal civil rights investigation is also underway.
Police say Clark was interfering with medical personnel who were tending to the victim in that assault, which prompted a call to authorities.
Authorities said at a news conference on Tuesday that handcuffs were at the scene and that they are trying to determine whether Clark was restrained.
That investigation will be conducted by the FBI and will continue alongside a separate investigation already being conducted by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Police union officials, in fact, claim Clark was trying to take one of the officers’ guns.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehensive (BCA) in Minneapolis identified the officers as Mark Ringgenberg, 30, and Dustin Schwarze, 28, according to the Star Tribune. 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”. They remain on administrative leave. On Tuesday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said Clark had died from a gunshot wound to the head at 9:25 p.m. CST Monday at the Hennepin County Medical Center. Nearly 20 police officers dressed in riot gear or fatigues pushed them back from the entry. Ringennberg joined the force after working in San Diego and two suburban departments for six years.
Lt. Bob Kroll is president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. Protesters have demanded that video be released, saying they don’t trust investigators. The officers said it was at that time that Clark tried to disarm one of the officers.
“He did not deserve to be shot down like an animal”, Javille Burns told reporters.
However, she said, she is not angry with police officers and will pray for them. “It is completely understandable to me that emotions are running high in the community”, she said at the press conference. Authorities say their aggression was instigated by Flowers. Pressed on the timeline for results of the BCA investigation, Evans said two to four months is typical but that the Clark case “has been given top priority”.
Advertisement
In seeking the civil rights investigation on Monday, Hodges said she was concerned about “transparency and community confidence”.
