BY ED FELIEN
Rest in peace and love, Deona Marie Knajdek
Late Sunday night, June 13, Nicholas Kraus drove his Jeep Cherokee through the barricades at Lake and Girard and killed Deona Marie Knajdek.
Barricades had been set up to protest the killing of Winston Boogie Smith by U.S. Marshals on June 3 at the Girard Avenue parking ramp. The U.S. Marshals multi-unit task force did not include Minneapolis police officers. The task force was trying to arrest Smith for illegal possession of a firearm. They claim Smith shot at them from his car. A woman in the car with Smith says she did not see Smith have a gun. There were no body cameras worn by the task force. Smith was shot by a Hennepin County sheriff and a Ramsey County sheriff. They had been prohibited from wearing body cameras by the U.S. Marshals office. After the Smith homicide, the U.S. Marshals office changed that policy and now allows all sheriffs to wear body cameras as members of the task force.
The protesters at Lake and Girard are demanding an explanation. They want evidence that Smith shot a gun at U.S. Marshals. There would have been powder burns on Smith if he had fired a gun. What does the medical examiner’s report say? What do the other witnesses say? Why are so many young Black men killed by law enforcement authorities: George Floyd; Dolal Idd; Winston Boogie Smith?
Deona Marie Knajdek joined the protest because she wanted answers to those questions. It was her car that Kraus hit while going 80 to 100 mph, according to witnesses. Witnesses say Kraus hit her car and it crushed her against a lamppost.
Why did Kraus do it?
Did he do it because he thought he could get away with it?
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman
On November 24, 2017, Jeffrey Rice drove through a crowd of demonstrators in front of the Third Precinct station at Lake and Minnehaha. He hit them with his car, knocked them down and drove over the legs of a 16-year-old.In a plea deal he pled guilty to a misdemeanor—failure to yield to a pedestrian—was fined $575 and ordered to attend a driver education class.
In July of 2019, an 83-year-old man from Champlin, Minn., drove his van into a bus shelter injuring six Black men, three critically with permanent spinal and pelvic injuries. Earlier, he had been seen driving in the area trying to solicit sexual favors from women. He was charged with five counts of criminal vehicular operation, but the court ruled he was incompetent to stand trial.
At one of the original George Floyd protests in May 2020, a semi-truck drove through a large crowd of demonstrators on the 35W bridge. Bodgan Vechirko was charged with criminal vehicular operation, but, in a plea deal, Vechirko agreed to take a driver education class and the charges were dropped.
These people were not held accountable by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman for trying to hurt or kill peaceful demonstrators.
We know that because Lucas Peterson was not held accountable by the police chief or mayor for the killing of Terrance Franklin, or Officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze for the killing of Jamar Clark or the officers involved in the killing of Thurman Blevins and Travis Jordan, that Derek Chauvin thought he could get away with the murder of George Floyd. Because the chief of police, the mayor and the City Council did not hold those officers accountable, they were enablers and accomplices in the murder of George Floyd.
Because Mike Freeman didn’t hold Jeffrey Rice or George Jenkins or Bodgan Vechirko accountable, he enabled Nicholas Kraus to murder Deona Marie Knajdek. He must be seen as an accomplice to her murder. Mike Freeman must resign as County Attorney.
