Brian Monroe asked about a violent incident at Art-A-Whirl last Friday night. Dozens of people witnessed a sickening scene of violence perpetrated by two off-duty Minneapolis police officers. I'm surprised it hasn't had more attention already as it has been the talk of the coffee shops and many conversations in Northeast over the last few days.
I can't say for sure I have all the details exactly right, but from talking with quite a few people this is my understanding: A group of friends, (some artists themselves, some students) were going around on their bicycles visiting studios and taking in various Art-a-Whirl events. At around 10:30pm(?) they were at the Old Science Restorations studios next to Dusty's Bar on Marshall near 13th. They were all having a good time, maybe had had some wine at the studio tours, but were not out of control. None of them was in any ways confrontational or looking for trouble, they were just having fun like you are supposed to on an art crawl. One of them named Jack was crossing Marshall, to get back to where his bike was parked, maybe dancing around a little waiting for traffic to clear. The bag he was carrying accidentally brushed up against a vehicle passing by. Unknown to Jack the vehicle then stopped down the street and two men (later discovered to be off-duty police officers) came back on foot. I'm not sure if any conversation occurred at all but they almost immediately started beating Jack up. Jack's friends started yelling and trying to stop the two guys. The two guys starting hitting his friends, including two young women who were really pummelled. A number of people said that the guys appeared visibly drunk or otherwise intoxicated, one especially seemed to be in an uncontrollable and irrational rage. This attracted a crowd. One unknown person came out of somewhere (maybe Dusty's Bar?) and saw the women being beat up. That person hit one of the off-duty police officers. That person then disappeared and was not seen again. Police were called and showed up very quickly. It then became apparent that the two aggressors were off-duty police. However, even as they regular police showed up the off-duty officers continued their rampage. Two other of Jack's friends who had yelled at the off-duty cops were assaulted. One was trying to leave and was unlocking his bike and was hit hard from behind. Another was sitting on the ground (not exactly being threatening). As the on-duty police watched, one of the off-duty cops kicked this young man in the head. This broke a tooth and appears to have dislocated his jaw as he cannot now bite down properly. To add insult to injury, Jack was then arrested for assault! He then spent from Friday night until yesterday in the downtown jail. Many in the crowd were calling for the off-duty cops, (the ones completely responsible for the violence) to be arrested. But the off-duty police officers were quickly interviewed by the responding officers and then allowed to leave. Apparently the police report described them as the "police victims." The wife? of one of them, who was also in the car, i s given credence as an identified witness but others in the crowd apparently don't count as witnesses even though they were the ones who didn't know anyone and are presumably the least biased. Reportedly, one of the responding officers mentioned that the off-duty officers outranked the responding officers and so they were unable/unwilling to do anything. Many people saw this occur and have expressed a willingness to be witnesses and testify to what they saw. The names of the off-duty officers are known. I don't know Jack but I know some of his friends and they are very trustworthy people. I had seen the whole crowd just a few minutes earlier but then I stopped at a different studio and so didn't see this myself. As a Northeast resident I find this whole incident to be extremely disturbing. I hope it can be properly investigated as quickly as possible. Bruce Shoemaker Holland Neighborhood REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
