Lots of posts mentioning the raids on Hwy 55 protesters, and Olson's position
and involvement in them.
A quick trip to the Downtown Library (soon to be greatly improved, Thanks
Minneapolis Residents!) produced the following:
MINNEAPOLIS, Posted 8:01 p.m. December 29, 1998 --Three Minneapolis police
officers were honored today for their roles in �Operation Coldsnap�
That's the name given to the Dec. 20 raid by 600 law enforcement
officers on the encampment set up by opponents of the Highway 55 re-route
project.
Thirty-six people were arrested.
Today, inspector David Indrehus, Lieutenant Alva "Bud" Emerson and Lieutenant
Christopher Hildreth received the Chiefs Award of Merit for their work in
planning and executing the predawn raid.
Police Chief Robert Olson says the level of professional shown during
the raid was �great.�
Yet on August 26, 1999, the Pioneer Press reported;
The behavior of law enforcement officers was outrageous and abusive when they
denied medical attention to two Minnesota 55 protesters arrested last winter
during a police raid, a Hennepin County District judge found in a ruling filed
Tuesday.
�For the court to turn a blind eye at the point of prosecution to the
defendants pain would render our system no better than that of countries we
criticize for state-sanctioned torture,� Aldrich wrote in an opinion filed
Tuesday. �It would be unconscionable to add a criminal trial to the pain these
defendants suffered on the street.�
Aldrich found the use of pepper spray was appropriate but the two protesters
should not have been left for more than five hours, in the winter's cold,
without any medical attention as they stood in extreme pain, vomiting,
drooling, crying and unable to see once they had unlocked themselves.
Aldrich dismissed the charges. Granted this was with the State Patrol, but with
600 officers (many Minneapolis) standing around and all this abuse going on,
with no one else lifting a finger to do anything about it,instead some cooked
hotdogs to eat while they collected overtime pay, is not a situation I would
call "great".
Slightly different outlooks on the same situation....
Tom Holtzleiter
King Field neighborhood,
Minneapolis
