Current:Home > InvestAt least 11 Minneapolis officers disciplined amid unrest after George Floyd’s murder, reports show -TradeWise
At least 11 Minneapolis officers disciplined amid unrest after George Floyd’s murder, reports show
View
Date:2025-04-16 17:06:58
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — At least 11 Minneapolis police officers were disciplined for alleged policy violations amid the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, with penalties ranging from firings to reprimands, newly released documents show.
Police officials have been slow to release disciplinary reports resulting from the department’s response to the sometimes violent protests that erupted after Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a white former officer who knelt on the Black man’s neck for nearly 9 1/2 minutes, on May 25, 2020. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” His death forced a reckoning with police brutality and racism.
The recent releases were first reported Friday by the Star Tribune. The department doesn’t generally disclose the outcome of disciplinary cases until they’ve gone through the entire review and appeal process. It went more than a year before acknowledging even a written reprimand to one officer for talking to a reporter for GQ magazine without authorization about the “toxic culture” in the department after Floyd’s death.
The unsealed, sometimes heavily redacted reports are posted on a department dashboard on disciplinary decisions from a range of incidents. Some of the most serious sanctions handed down in cases related to the unrest came from an assault by police May 30, 2020, on Jaleel Stallings.
Officials with the officers’ union, the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.
Many details in the Stallings case came to light in earlier court cases, but the reports detail some of the reasons former Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman gave for firing Officer Justin Stetson and suspending others. In the redacted report on Stetson, Huffman wrote that he used “unreasonable force” that could have resulted in “even more grave” injuries.
Stallings, an Army veteran with a permit to carry a gun, had fired three shots at an unmarked police van after Stetson shot him with a 40 mm “less lethal” round, the report noted. The officers were enforcing a curfew that night. When Stallings realized they were police, he dropped his gun, lay on the ground and did not resist. But Stetson kicked him in the face and in the head, punched him multiple times and slammed his head into the pavement, Huffman noted.
Stallings — who suffered a fracture of his eye socket, plus cuts and bruises — argued in resulting court cases that he thought civilians had attacked him, and that he fired in self-defense. Stetson last year pleaded guilty to assault and was given probation. The city agreed in 2022 to pay Stallings a $1.5 million settlement, after Stallings was acquitted of an attempted murder charge.
Other discipline arising from that incident included a 120-hour suspension for Officer Tyler Klund for kicking Stallings and for punching a man who was with Stallings that night in the head, and failure to activate his body camera. Huffman also handed down 80-hour suspensions for Officers Michael Pfaff and Michael Osbeck for their actions against the other man. Pfaff used his Taser on him nine times in less than a minute, she said.
Officer Kristopher Dauble got a 40-hour suspension for firing 40 mm rounds at pedestrians about a block away from where police confronted Stallings. Huffman said it was fortunate that nobody was injured as a result.
Sgt. Kevin Angerhofer, who oversaw SWAT teams in the area that night, got a 60-hour suspension for failing to conduct a proper force review.
An earlier report, signed by Medaria Arradondo, who was police chief when Floyd was killed, gave details on the attempted firing of Sgt. Ronald Stenerson, who sprayed a chemical agent into the face of Vice News journalist Michael Anthony Adams when he was already lying on his stomach, holding his press credentials for officers to see. Stenerson did not document his actions and did not activate his body camera, the report said. The Star Tribune reported previously that Stenerson contested his firing and stayed on the job before later resigning.
Arradondo said Stenerson’s actions were all the more egregious because he was a supervisor, so his conduct “cannot be tolerated or accepted.”
The reports also show that current Police Chief Brian O’Hara handed down suspensions last May of 10 to 40 hours against three officers who confronted protesters who blocked the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis on May 31, 2020.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- The Worst-Case Scenario for Global Warming Tracks Closely With Actual Emissions
- The Bachelorette: Meet the 25 Men Vying for Charity Lawson's Heart
- Senate 2020: In the Perdue-Ossoff Senate Runoff, Support for Fossil Fuels Is the Dividing Line
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Sydney Sweeney Reveals Dad and Grandpa's Reactions to Watching Her on Euphoria
- California and Colorado Fires May Be Part of a Climate-Driven Transformation of Wildfires Around the Globe
- Wave of gun arrests on Capitol Hill, including for a gun in baby stroller, as tourists return
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- 15 Summer Athleisure Looks & Accessories So Cute, You’ll Actually Want To Work Out
Ranking
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss Can't Believe They're Labeled Pathological Liars After Affair
- Stitcher shuts down as podcast industry loses luster
- Missing Florida children found abandoned at Wisconsin park; 2 arrested
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Earn less than $100,000 in San Francisco? Then you are considered low income.
- Ryan Seacrest named new Wheel of Fortune host
- Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly Prove Their Twin Flame Is Burning Bright During London Outing
Recommendation
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
The Challenge's Amber Borzotra Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby With Chauncey Palmer
Judge Blocks Trump’s Arctic Offshore Drilling Expansion as Lawyers Ramp Up Legal Challenges
States Are Using Social Cost of Carbon in Energy Decisions, Despite Trump’s Opposition
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
Kim Kardashian Recalls Telling Pete Davidson What You’re Getting Yourself Into During Romance
US Declares Greenhouse Gases a Danger to Public Health and Welfare
16 Game-Winning Ted Lasso Gift Ideas That Will Add Positivity to Your Life