MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than 50 people were arrested during the second day of protests in Minneapolis over the shooting of a black man by a police officer during an apparent struggle.
Hundreds of people protesting 24-year-old Jamar Clark’s shooting blocked Interstate 94 on Monday night, shutting down the northbound lanes for about two and a half hours. Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Tiffani Schweigart said 43 adults and 8 juveniles who refused multiple orders to disperse were arrested.
Authorities have released few details about the shooting, which has angered some community members after witnesses said the man was handcuffed when he was shot. Police said their initial information showed the man, a suspect in an assault, was not handcuffed. He was taken to a hospital after the shooting, and his family says he is on life support.
The demonstrations came after the mayor of Minneapolis earlier in the day asked for a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting.
Demonstrators block a portion of Interstate 94, shutting down the northbound lanes, Monday. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
Mayor Betsy Hodges said she wrote to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and to the U.S. attorney for Minnesota seeking the investigation in the “interest of transparency and community confidence.” The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is already conducting a criminal investigation, but Hodges said the city needs “all the tools we have available to us.”
Two officers are on paid leave, standard practice after such an incident. Police Chief Janee Harteau said the officers were not wearing body cameras, but declined to say whether squad car or surveillance video was available, citing the ongoing investigation.
The incident sparked protests Sunday and an overnight encampment at the north Minneapolis police precinct near the site of the shooting. Protesters on Monday applauded the request for a federal investigation but said they would continue the precinct sit-in until authorities release any video they have of the incident as well as the officer’s identity.
At least eight tents were set up outside Monday, and a handful of protesters were sitting behind glass doors in the foyer, including one who was knitting.
“We’re still not moving until we get that footage,” said Michael McDowell, a member of Black Lives Matter.
Later, the crowd of hundreds blocked I-94.
Marchers stop traffic on an entrance ramp to westbound Interstate 94 before moving to the main freeway in Minneapolis. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
Schweigart said the 51 people who were arrested were cooperative and no use of force was required in detaining them.
Police said the incident began when they were called to north Minneapolis around 12:45 a.m. Sunday following a report of an assault. When they arrived, a man was interfering with paramedics helping the victim, police said. Officers tried to calm him, but there was a struggle. At some point, an officer fired at least once, hitting the man, police said.
Authorities have not released the man’s name, but family members have identified him. Clark’s father, James Hill, told The Associated Press that his son suffered a single gunshot wound over his left eye.
Ramona Dohman, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the officers’ identities would be released after investigators interview them. She declined to say how long the investigation could take.
Harteau, the police chief, said she welcomed a federal investigation.
“Everyone involved needs and deserves the truth and the facts,” she said.
A man wrapped in an American flag listens as a Black Lives Matter leader speaks to the crowd gathered at a police precinct. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
Gov. Mark Dayton also issued a statement saying he supported the request for a federal probe.
The protests are just the latest expression of tension between the department and minorities in the city.
Outrage and a civil lawsuit followed the 2013 death of 22-year-old Terrance Franklin, a burglary suspect whom police pursued and shot in a Minneapolis basement. A grand jury declined to indict the officers involved.
In 2014, prominent civil rights activist Al Flowers complained of being the victim of brutality when police served a warrant on a relative at his home. Police say Flowers instigated their aggression.
The rocky relations have led to discussions between police and minorities and the creation of task forces designed to quell concerns. This spring, Minneapolis was selected for a federal Justice Department program to rebuild trust between police and the communities they patrol.
Members of Black Lives Matter and the community sit in the lobby of the Minneapolis Police Department’s fourth precinct headquarters in north Minneapolis. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP)
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Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti . Follow Kyle Potter athttp://www.twitter.com/kpottermn .
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Associated Press writers Jeff Baenen, Brian Bakst and Doug Glass contributed.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Christ, I’m sick of this shit happening again and again. It’s almost like the cops have decided, “Fuck it. We’re deadly racists and don’t care anymore who knows it.”
Did you read the article? This guy beat some woman until she needed an ambulance, then as the EMT’s were trying to get her treated and into an ambulance, he kept trying to get at the victim.
He also has record for aggravated robbery, and was convicted this year of terrorist threats. He was a low life POS.
Now, as to what actually happened and if he deserved to be shot, don’t you want to hear statements from the EMT’s, etc? And if not, how come your initial rage is directed at the police in this case, when this asshole was trying to beat a woman to death?
When they’re acting this way, I don’t think I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Your mileage may vary.
Oh please, we saw all kinds of protests in Ferguson, turns out the cop was totally justified in the shooting, and that numerous witnesses lied their asses off. So?
I’ll stick with facts thanks. I don’t care about what protesters say or what police say. I’m interested in facts.
Oh, those people arrested for “unlawful assembly and pedestrian on the freeway”. What they were protesting has no relevance, they were breaking the law. Had they not been disruptive and instead peaceably assembled, there would not have been any arrests. More than 200 protesters blocked Interstate 94 as well. Some of them threw bottles and rocks at squad cars, one punched a trooper. These are not protesters, they are assholes. They are backing some guy who almost beat a woman to death.
I understand that if you have relatives or friends or coworkers who are cops, it’s hard to believe that cops are the bad guys in any of these incidents. But there are just too damn many of them to wave away at this point. And, no, the conclusion of the DOJ was not that the Ferguson shooting was justified, but that there was insufficient evidence to say that it wasn’t.