BY ED FELIEN
Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau has updated the manual on police conduct.
She says officers should “reduce their exposure to a potential threat using distance, cover or concealment”; they should “communicate from a safe position intended to gain the subject’s compliance, using verbal persuasion, advisements or warnings”; and “avoid a physical confrontation, unless immediately necessary (e.g. to protect someone or stop dangerous behavior).” They should “use verbal techniques to calm an agitated subject and promote rational decision making,” and they should “call additional resources to assist, including more officers, CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) officers and officers equipped with less-lethal tools.”
Further, Harteau says officers have a duty to intervene: “Sworn employees have an obligation to protect the public and other employees. It shall be the duty of every sworn employee at any scene where physical force is being applied to either stop or attempt to stop another sworn employee when force is being inappropriately applied or is no longer required.” According to the chief: “The policy places responsibility on an officer if he or she observes the inappropriate application of force and does not proactively attempt to stop it.” Officers also “must immediately, or as soon as reasonably possible, report any misconduct at a scene of an incident to their supervisor or the superior at the scene, as well as to the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU). This includes, but is not limited to, unreasonable force.”
This places a large responsibility on the IAU. But it is difficult to have much confidence in that unit when it has not yet issued a report on the actions of Ringgenberg and Schwarze for their involvement in the death of Jamar Clark, which happened 10 months ago.
The changes by Chief Harteau are common sense and are undoubtedly already covered under existing laws and rules governing police conduct. The fact that Harteau has to spell them out suggests that some of her officers are out of control.
Consider the statements from the police officers about their involvement in the killings of Jamar Clark and Terrance Franklin. The following is verbatim from the police report, which contains non-standard English:
With regard to the police homicide of Jamar Clark: According to the statement by Officer Schwarze, “He said he [the ambulance attendant] called us because ah this male and he pointed to a, gentleman that was standing nearby. Not on the street he was up on the boulevard, the boulevard area within close proximity to both the ambulance and us … Ah he said that this male, pointing to this gentleman standing there ah was hindering the process of these paramedics rendering aid to whoever was in the ambulance. He said that he didn’t have a lotta information and that he needed our help figuring everything out.
“My partner and I approached him, still noticing that he had his hands in his pockets. I said take your hands outta your pockets. Ah at the same time I was saying that my partner was also saying take your hands outta your pockets. I walked closer to this person I said take your hands outta your pockets again. I could also hear my partner saying take your hands outta your pockets. He didn’t move he just, stood there. The same look on his face, both of his hands were still in his pockets.
“My par, I saw my partner ah take his gun out of his holster and now the, this male was saying what’s the pistol for, what’s the pistol for. And now he’s looking at my partner and my partner’s gun. His head was still tilted down.”
From the summary of Officer Ringgenberg’s testimony to officials: “Ringgenberg said they approached the male and told him to get his hands out of his pockets. He noted the male had a strange look in his eyes and a weird stare. Ringgenberg drew his weapon and held it in front of him, not pointing it at the male but asking again to get his hands out of his jacket pockets. The male still refused so Ringgenberg holstered his weapon and went to grab the subjects right hand and pull it out of his jacket pockets. He had to forcefully pull his hands out of his pockets but he could not get his hands behind his back to safely handcuff him. The male was resisting their efforts to get him handcuffed.
“Ringgenberg said he decided to take the male to the ground to more quickly overcome his resistance and get him cuffed. When they took him down however, Ringgenberg said he ended up partially on top of the male with his back to the male and partially with his front to the sky and to the side.”
Schwarze: “At that point ah my partner used a takedown maneuver ah grabbing the, this person and pulling him backwards on the ground … I immediately noticed that my partner was now lying on his back and almost kind of his side in a very awkward angled position and he’s laying on this person that we had just taken to the ground … My partner then says he’s got my gun and it was a very, stern ah excited like very serious tone in his voice when he said it … I then grabbed my gun and unholstered it. I pointed it at this persons head and I made contact with the tip of my gun the barrel the end of the slide and I was touching the left corner of this persons mouth. And I said let it go or I’m gonna shoot you.”
Ringgenberg: “Ringgenberg said he tried to roll away from the male and he felt his gun, holstered to his right side, pull towards his back. He felt back there and felt the male’s hand wrapped around the full grip of the pistol as he tried to get it out. Ringgenberg tried hard with the back of his right hand to keep the male from pulling it out but he did not have a good angle to properly use weapon retention techniques he was taught in classes. He yelled at his partner, Ofc Schwarze ‘He’s got my gun, he’s got my gun’ more than a couple times. All Ringgenberg felt he could do was try to roll away but keep pressure on the gun at the same time while also trying to push the gun down. After telling Schwarze again ‘He’s got my gun,’ he heard Schwarze say something like ‘Let go, or I’ll shoot you’ but the male then said ‘I’m ready to die’ which instantly filled him with the fear that he was going to die. After telling Schwarze a couple more times that he had his gun, he told him to shoot the male. He then heard on[e] shot and he was then free to get up from the male.”
With regard to the police homicide of Terrance Franklin: According to the statement by Sergeant Stender, “The suspect just stared at me. I then said, ‘Show me your f**king hands,’ and again the suspect just stared at me. Again I told him to show me his hands, and this time he twisted a little bit from side to side. Thinking that he might have a gun in his hand, I went farther into the room and punched him in the face as hard as I could. The suspect just stood there and looked at me with a vacant deep stare and did not respond to my commands. I was especially concerned because I had punched him very hard in the face and received no reaction from him. I then took my flashlight and struck him over his right eye as hard as I could. Once again the suspect just stood and stared at me with a deep vacant stare. I went deeper into the closet, grabbed the suspect by the head, and started to pull him out with a headlock.”
Franklin was probably killed in a hail of machine gun bullets from Officer Durand’s MP5 machine gun pistol when Stender and Officer Meath threw him across the room. Officers Meath and Munro were injured when they caught a few stray bullets from the hailstorm.
It is inconceivable that current laws and rules of procedure would condone either the actions of Ringgenberg and Schwarze or Stender’s Tactical Squad unit. They were out of line. Their actions were responsible for the deaths of two young black men. There should have been disciplinary action from the chief. Instead, like a patient and ancient schoolmarm, Harteau writes the lesson once more on the blackboard and tells her class, “Now, this time I’m serious.”
But, they’re not serious.
Would the police have acted like that if Jamar Clark or Terrance Franklin had been white or middle class?
There has to be an honest admission by the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department that they have failed to bring justice to the tragedy of the deaths of Jamar Clark and Terrance Franklin. They are saying, instead, that Black Lives Don’t Matter.
