Dear Public Health and Safety Committee Members,
As you may have noticed, I have been on your case for more than three years now to have some public discussions about what has been learned — by both the MPD and by elected officials — from MPD officer-involved killings that resulted in large civil settlements. So far, such a public discussion has never occurred about any such incident. That is remarkable and distressing.
Today, I have a specific suggestion about a specific snafu, which, had it not happened, might have saved Minneapolis taxpayers $27,000,000. If that $27,000,000 payment, unanimously approved by the Mayor and the 13 Council members, had come out of your pockets, it would have been about $1.9 million plus nearly three years’ salary from each of you. And if it came out of your pockets rather than from Minneapolis taxpayers, you can bet your bottom dollar — pun intended — you would be doing everything you could possibly do to answer the following questions.
Here’s the situation, which you all are well aware of. Derek Chauvin pled guilty in federal court, where the standard of proof required for a criminal conviction is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, to violating the civil rights of a 14-year-old boy by restraining him in a manner similar to the May 25, 2020, restraint of George Floyd.
This incident involved a use of force. MPD procedures require a report to be filed and reviewed by a supervisor in such cases. If excessive force is used, the supervisor can file a complaint against the officer. The standard of proof on such complaints is a preponderance of the evidence, far below the reasonable doubt standard in criminal cases. No complaint was ever filed for this incident. Why not? How did this incident fall through the cracks? Was there a looking the other way? Was there a cover-up? Was this swept under the rug? What procedures and/or practices within the MPD allowed this incident to have no further consequences? What LESSONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEARNED from this incident? What lessons should have been learned from nothing happening after this incident? What procedures and practices within the MPD led to that outcome? Was it a pattern or was it due to an individual supervisor’s lack of action? Had a different response occurred, could the City have saved $27,000,000?
To my knowledge, no City official has publicly addressed these specific questions, let alone called for a public discussion of what caused this incident to not get the oversight attention it should have gotten. My $27,000,000 question for your committee: If that is true, what are you going to do about it now?
Yours,
Chuck Turchick
Ward 6
