Minneapolis Bracing for Freeman's Announcement That He Won't Be Filing Charges Against Police Officers

Take notice I said announcement and not decision since anyone familiar with Mike Freeman's tenure as Hennepin County Attorney and track record in not prosecuting bad cops (e.g. Metro Gang Strike Force and more recently the murder of Dawn Pfister by Chaska Police Officer following a lengthy high speed car chase), knows, Freeman won't even prosecute a cop even when he has prima facie evidence in the form of admissions or a dash cam video of the crime itself.  Don't believe me?  Just watch the redacted video below and ask yourself if this is how you would like law enforcement to treat your relatives.

Therefore it was a foregone conclusion that Freeman would not be filing charges in the Jamar Clark killing.  In fact, to be absolutely sure that justice would not be served in the Clark case or in any other shooting involving a police officer, Freeman recently announced he would no longer submit those cases to a grand jury but rather he would make the decision not to prosecute on his own.  As I write this protesters from Black Lives Matter are marching on Minneapolis and who can blame them, they're no fools.  Anyone who pays attention can see the handwriting on the wall: Freeman is incapable of prosecuting cops.

As outrageous and egregious as Freeman 's malfeasance as a county attorney is don't count on any help from the state.  While I am a supporter of our governor, the two areas where he has greatly disappointed me and done a disservice to the people of the State of Minnesota is his blind allegiance to the police federation which leads to a culture on unaccountability in law enforcement and stupid, mean spirited legislation like Minnesota's joke of a medical marijuana bill.  The reason the medical marijuana law in Minnesota is so bad and offers no relief for the citizens is because Governor Dayton abdicated his judgment and responsibility to law enforcement giving them what amounted to a veto so that only the most watered down version of a bill would pass.

Because of politicians like Freeman and Dayton we have seen the great State of Minnesota which use to have one of the lowest incarceration rates in the country turned into a prison camp so they can posture they are tough on crime when in fact they look the other way when the most dangerous crimes take place, crimes committed by those sworn to protect and serve.  Until people like Freeman are voted out of office or our, for the most part, good governor stops and self-reflects on his failed policy of blindly supporting law enforcement on every issue, especially on privacy issues like electronic plate readers and stingray cell phone interception, 2016 is looking more and more like Orwell's 1984.

Unredacted Chaska County sheriff department dash camera video of the Feb. 7, 2015 fatal police shooting of Dawn Marie Pfister, 34, of Elkhorn, Wis., and Matthew Vincent Serbus, 36, of Maple Grove. Courtesy of Robert Bennett, attorney for Pfister’s family. No audio.  For complete context of situation first watch top (redacted) video with audio then watch unredacted but without audio video immediately above.