Minneapolis mayor requests federal probe after police shooting

MINNEAPOLIS -- The mayor of Minneapolis said Monday she requested a federal civil-rights investigation into the weekend shooting of a black man by a police officer during an apparent struggle.

Mayor Betsy Hodges said she sent an email to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and to the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota to ask for a civil rights investigation in the "interest of transparency and community confidence."

The state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension already is conducting a criminal investigation, but Hodges said the city needs "all the tools we have available to us."

Authorities have released few details about the shooting that has enraged some community members after witnesses said the man was handcuffed when he was shot. Police said initial information showed the man, a suspect in an assault, was not handcuffed. The shooting sparked protests and an overnight encampment at a police precinct on the city's north side. Community members and activists called for a federal investigation, as well as for authorities to release video of the shooting and the officer's identity.

Two officers are on paid leave, standard practice after such an incident. Police Chief Janee Harteau said the officers were not wearing body cameras. When asked whether squad-car video was available, she said it was part of the investigation.

Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, said the request for a federal investigation is a step in the right direction, "given that we do not trust Minnesota law-enforcement officials to hold themselves accountable."

Police initially said they were called to north Minneapolis about 12:45 a.m. Sunday after a report of an assault. When they arrived, a man was interfering with paramedics who were assisting 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 identified him as Jamar Clark, 24, and said he was on life support. His father, James Hill, said his son suffered a single gunshot wound over his left eye.

Martez McKnight, Clark's nephew, said the family "is heartbroken and traumatized by the whole event."

Protesters demanded the officer who shot Clark be arrested.

"None of our children deserve to be shot and killed, and then talked about like they are animals," Bettie Smith, whose son Quincy Smith died in a 2008 confrontation with police, said at a news conference outside the precinct.

"Unless the community steps up to help us out, it will continue. Each and every one of us out here would be held accountable if we murdered someone," she added.

Ramona Dohman, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the officers' identities would be released after investigators interview them. She said these types of investigations take time, and it's hard to predict when authorities will have answers.

Harteau said she welcomed a federal investigation.

"Everyone involved needs and deserves the truth and the facts," she said.

Gov. Mark Dayton also issued a statement saying he supported the request for a federal probe.

Community members began protesting Sunday afternoon, with some demonstrators camping at the police station overnight. Hodges and Harteau held a listening session with the community Sunday evening, during which some citizens shouted in anger. Protests continued through Monday.

Authorities said protesters broke a window at the precinct and damaged two police vehicles, including a marked squad car in which all the windows and a camera were broken, and an expletive was scratched into the hood. One person was arrested in connection with damage to an unmarked police car.

The protests are just the latest expression of tension between the department and minorities in the city.

Rocky relations have led to discussions between police and minorities and the creation of task forces designed to quell concerns.

A special civilian review authority was formed after the death of an elderly black couple during a botched drug raid decades ago.

This spring, Minneapolis was selected for a federal Justice Department program to rebuild trust between police and the communities they patrol.

KG Wilson, a peace activist who just retired weeks ago after 11 years of building relationships between the community and the police department, said he's hurt by the reaction he is seeing and disagrees with the protests.

"I hate that this is going on right now. My heart is so crushed. I have not stopped crying," he said, adding that some protesters are looking for an excuse to be angry. "I think everything is being gone about in the wrong way. ... Peace is always the way. You can't bring peace with aggression."