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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Minneapolis/ Lawsuit: Minneapolis cops planted pistol on teen after they gunned him down

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posted by Bob at Tuesday, March 31, 2009

10 Comments:

Anonymous Topic requested said...

By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 03/31/2009 09:14:16 AM CDT


The handgun found near a teenager shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2006 could not have been carried by the teen, new court documents allege: It had last been in possession of police before it was found next to the body of Fong Lee.

The court filings in a lawsuit filed by Fong Lee's family against Minneapolis police and the officer who fired the fatal shots, along with a review of police reports, witness statements and other documents, raise the possibility that Fong Lee was unarmed when an officer shot him eight times — and that the pistol that officers said they found near his body was placed there after the shooting.

The gun in question had been recovered earlier after a burglary and turned over to police, who kept it as evidence and had never returned it to its owner.

Moreover, Minneapolis police "may have tried to deliberately alter history by writing new reports indicating the gun recovered near Fong Lee's body was not the same gun" that had been recovered after the burglary, according to Richard Hechter, a lawyer representing Fong Lee's family, wrote in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court on Monday.

"The evidence supports a claim of planting a gun, especially since irrefutable video evidence and eyewitness accounts establish Fong Lee did not have a gun at the time he was killed."

The video evidence referred to by Hechter came from security cameras outside a school near the chase and shooting.

Minneapolis City Attorney James Moore said he couldn't comment on a pending case, but police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Garcia said the shooting was justified and the officer, Jason Andersen, was cleared by a grand jury.
"As with all officer-involved shootings, it's a very unfortunate incident, but being a police officer, there are times when deadly force is justified in the protection of their life and the life of others," said Garcia.

He also denied any conspiracy in the police department to plant a gun or alter evidence.

"As for conspiracy, they might as well start that affidavit with the words, 'Once upon a time,' " Garcia said.

Andersen could not be reached for comment. Minneapolis Chief of Police Timothy Dolan was out of town and also could not be reached for comment, the spokesman said.

Hechter and law partner Michael Padden declined to discuss details of the case, but they issued a statement saying that in light of the evidence they've found in the case so far, the facts about the gun "are not surprising at all."

POLICE SAY SHOOTING WAS JUSTIFIED

The death of Fong Lee, 19, sparked outrage in the Hmong community, but police said their own inquiry showed the shooting was justified. Fong Lee's parents filed suit against the city and the trial is to begin May 1 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. The family claims new evidence raises questions about the city's claim that the shooting was justified.

On July 22, 2006, Fong Lee was among a group of youths riding their bicycles near Cityview Performing Arts magnet school in the 3300 block of North Fourth Street when Andersen and his partner, Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Craig Benz, began following them in their patrol car.

Andersen said that he saw one of the youths pass a gun to Fong Lee (Benz said he couldn't tell what the object was) and when they sped up to try and stop the bicyclists, the patrol car struck Fong Lee's bicycle and he fell down and then took off running.

Andersen claimed that during the brief foot chase around the school, Fong Lee was carrying a pistol in his right hand and refused the officer's commands to drop the gun. Andersen said that when the teen turned and raised his arm as if to fire the weapon, the officer fired four shots; three struck Fong Lee.

The teen fell to the ground, but still refused to drop the gun, Andersen said. Fong Lee raised his arm again and Andersen said he feared for his life and shot him five more times.

When other officers arrived, they found Fong Lee dead, lying on his back with his arms outstretched. A Russian-made Baikal .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol lay about three feet beyond his left hand, according to police reports.

No fingerprints or DNA evidence was found on the weapon, according to police reports.

In a press conference two days after the shooting, Dolan displayed the gun and officials said the fact Fong Lee was armed — along with claims he was a gang member with a criminal record — gave credence to the officer's claim the shooting was justified.

Andersen was placed on administrative leave, routine in such cases. Dolan reinstated him July 24, a day before the officer gave his formal statement to the department's homicide detectives.

The case was later presented to a grand jury, which took no action. On Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman declined comment through a spokeswoman.

GUN'S OWNER SAYS COPS KEPT IT

But the affidavits raise new questions about the handgun recovered from the scene. According to initial police records and documents the city has turned over to lawyers for Fong Lee's parents, the pistol had been in police custody since 2004 and had never been returned to the man from whose home it was stolen in a burglary.

The gun was kept at the Fourth Precinct, the same precinct Andersen was assigned to, the documents say. The officer who handled the burglary call earlier was also the first officer to arrive on the scene after Lee's shooting, according to police records.

When police traced the serial number of the weapon seized after the shooting, they found it had been owned by a Minneapolis man named Dang Her. Two police sergeants went to speak with Dang Her, but according to an affidavit he filed Monday, he told them that police had had the gun since February 2004.

That month, Dang Her reported that his home had been broken into and that the gun had been stolen. A few days later, police were called to the 2700 block of Russell Avenue North after some children found a loaded handgun in a snowbank.

"While checking the serial number, Officer (Tony) Adams discovered that the handgun was taken from a burglary" of Dang Her's residence, according to a Minneapolis police report by then-Sgt. Michael Fossum, who has since been promoted to lieutenant. Fossum said that on Feb. 27, 2004, he called Dang Her and told him "that officers had recovered his stolen handgun."

In his affidavit, Dang Her says that in that February 2004 call, Fossum told him they had identified the gun through its serial number, and the sergeant told him the gun would be returned to him after the criminal cases against the burglary suspects were concluded.

Both suspects pleaded guilty in plea bargains later that year, but Dang Her said he was never notified about it.

"Sgt. Fossum never returned the gun to me that year," Dang Her said in the affidavit. "The gun never was returned to me."

REPORT CITES DIFFERENT WEAPON

Two days after Fong Lee's death in 2006, Minneapolis police Sgt. M. Keefe asked federal officials to trace "Fong Lee's Russian-made Baikal .380 pistol, serial #BHE2281," and a report he wrote notes that it had been stolen from Dang Her. Two days later, the sergeant and another officer spoke to Dang Her, and he told them the police had recovered the gun in February 2004.

The plaintiffs allege that a week after the Fong Lee shooting, police realized they had a problem with the provenance of the gun.

On Aug. 1, 2006 — 10 days after the fatal shooting of Fong Lee — Fossum wrote a supplemental report in which he claimed the gun found in the snowbank was a Belgian-made FNH 7.65-caliber handgun and hadn't belonged to Dang Her.

In his affidavit, Hechter claims the evidence shows "intentional and separate widespread and high-level constitutional violations."

"The evidence is supportive of the fact that the defendants had the alleged second (stolen) gun in their possession since 2004, never disclosed this information and, following the shooting, may have tried to deliberately alter history by writing new reports indicating that the gun recovered near Fong's body was not the same gun recovered and allegedly traced (by serial number) to Dang Her in 2004," Hechter wrote.

David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.

9:27 AM  
Anonymous henry said...

Is anyone really surprised?

9:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would be very interesting to hear what the grand jury heard and saw from prosecutors.

11:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It doesn't suprise me and looking at the paper trIl of the gun they are going to have a hard time proving otherwise. Something tells me someone is going to get rich.

12:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe cops shouldn't be trusted with guns. Give them slingshots instead.

5:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Police pplanting guns on people for an excuse to kill them and not many here speak against it. I am not suprised given the people here that seem to think the civil rights violations of the landlords is no big deal. One day you peole will wake up in the morning and there will be no rights left and no way to get them back and you'll deserve it.

10:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have spoken out about the Mpls Police Department for years. As a former civil rights commissioner in Mpls, I am very familiar with the shameless tactics and 'us' versus 'them' attitude. It is systematic and runs through the force.

They are the department that went to the legislature to have the residency clause removed from their contracts. So, now they live out in Elk River, Zimmerman, Coon Rapids and Maple Grove.

Couple that with the fact that many of them are from other cities and their knowledge and interaction with Minneapolis is while wearing the uniform. It creates the attitude of soldiers in a war zone and they don't give a damn about the people who live there and hardly take the time to separate criminals from everyday citizens.

This is the same police department that is under a lawsuit pretty regularly including suits by there own cops over discrimination to one cop who sued because he was shot with a machine gun by another cop while on duty.

The feds have come in a few times in recent years to try and straighten that department out. The NAACP has sued them at least twice since 1995. They have settled more suits than the tobacco companies.

So, no, I am not surprised by this. I'm only surprised that it took this long for a gun planting after a wrongful shooting. Or, I should say surprised they got caught.


Eric

10:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the allegations of gun planting are true, then the state trooper and the officer that changged his story in his report are going to prison.

1:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

According to the report, Benz wasn't sure of what he saw, so how was the other officer able to positivley identify what if anything, was passed between the to suspects ?

How the hell do you explain no DNA or finger prints on the gun, and if the story holds true that the gun shown on TV wasn't the one police say was found at the scene,
then the police need to account for it being missing.

One would think that the BCA would have done its ballistics or whatever on the gun found at the scene considering there was a death involved.

Always question the cops when they shoot someone in the back and is running away from the scene.

From the video, it appeared this cop was trigger happy in his pursuit of ths young man.

The cops will want to settle this out of court.

How many of you are outraged that a grand jury did not act ?

Did it know then what we know now ?

Is this the end of possible criminal proceedings ?

1:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pictures in the paper today look BAD for the Mpls police.

JMONTOMEPPOF

Chuck Repke

8:26 AM  

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