Eva Young wrote:
At 12:59 PM 12/5/2003, Eric Mitchell wrote:This is an odd remark and following paragraph.
Link= <http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4250079.html>http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4250079.html
A former high school honor student is close to a $180,000 settlement of her brutality lawsuit against Minneapolis police for a beating she said occurred while she was returning from a youth park event.
Good story, not a good comment by CM Barb Johnson.
Here's the problematic comment.
Committee Chairwoman Barbara Johnson said she probably will vote against the offer. Asked why, she said only, "It appears we have a family business going."
Freeman's aunt, Alisa Clemons, a former Minneapolis police officer, won two six-figure discrimination suits against the department. The second required that she resign. Flowers recently claimed he was roughed up by police outside the Urban League in north Minneapolis and has threatened to file suit.
If it's a "family business" it appears that at least 2 juries of citizens agreed with paying six-figure lawsuits to Alisa Clemons. So, who's right here? CM Johnson or the juries?
This is the first time I've seen in print that Flowers claimed he was roughed up by the police. All the previous accounts said that multiple witnesses made the claims. This Star Tribune writer makes it sound like Flowers is making some obscure claim that the police bumped into him a little hard on the street -- which hardly seems to resemble the truth at all.
Maybe the family is more likely to sue than others. So what? If there weren't merit to their cases, it wouldn't be a big problem. But the big settlements make it clear there is merit, and the city does have a problem.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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