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Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Expert: Teen unarmed when Minneapolis cop shot and killed him

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posted by Bob at Wednesday, April 01, 2009

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Anonymous Topic requested said...

By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 03/31/2009 11:18:30 PM CDT

Fong Lee RelatedFong Lee case
Security video: Do you see a gun in this suspect's hands? The police did.Lawsuit: Minneapolis cops planted pistol on teen after they gunned him downContrary to what Minneapolis police have claimed, Fong Lee didn't have a gun in his right hand when a patrolman chased him and then shot him eight times, a nationally recognized video forensics expert asserts.

The expert, Richard Diercks, said he examined photos taken by a surveillance camera that caught part of the chase, and they show the man's hand was empty.

"Fong Lee did not have any object in his right hand during the moments before the shooting incident," Diercks said in a report written for Fong Lee's family, who hired him after they sued the city and the officer, Jason Andersen, two years ago over the death of the 19-year-old man.

Diercks declined a request for an interview Tuesday. His two-page report examining copies of the seven still images taken by the surveillance camera was written last September and is part of the court file.

Attorneys for Fong Lee's family filed affidavits in the case Monday maintaining that Fong Lee was unarmed and that police planted the Russian-made pistol officers said was found near his body.

The photos Diercks examined were taken by a camera monitoring the grounds of a school where the July 2006 shooting took place.

Two days after the incident, Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan said at a news conference that the images showed Fong Lee carrying a gun. Dolan said the shooting was justified because the man had raised the pistol as if to shoot at his pursuer.

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

Dolan was out of town and unavailable for comment Tuesday, but a police spokesman now says it can't be determined from the photos that Fong Lee was armed. However, the spokesman said, it is the officer's recollection that matters most.

"I watched the video, and from the vantage point of the video, you can't tell" he had a gun, said Sgt. Jesse Garcia III. "But the video doesn't perceive that danger or life is threatened as the eyes of Jason Andersen would. That is video that we're not able to pull out, other than his sworn statement."

Michael Padden, an attorney representing Fong Lee's family, said the video images are key to the case.

"The evidence that he didn't have a gun is overwhelming. Overwhelming," Padden said. "The seven frames are significant because they show the fact that he does not have a firearm in either hand, and there's no evidence of what video people call an 'image object.'

"I don't see how anybody could look at those images and conclude that the boy has a gun."

Minneapolis City Attorney James Moore has declined to comment on the case. Garcia defended the police department's handling of the case. Not only was Andersen cleared by a police inquiry and a grand jury, he was awarded the Medal of Valor, the department's second-highest honor, for the incident.

The sergeant who recommended Andersen for the award said he "demonstrated obvious self-sacrifice in the face of death or great bodily harm to protect his own life, the life of his partner and the citizens of Minneapolis."

Dolan attached a note that read, "Nice work, Jason. Congrats."

STOPPED NEAR A SCHOOL

The shooting took place July 22, 2006, near the Cityview Performing Arts Magnet School in the 3300 block of North Fourth Street. Andersen and his partner, Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Craig Benz, said to homicide detectives, and in their depositions later, that they began following a group of young men riding bicycles.

The two lawmen said they saw one of the men pass something to Fong Lee; Andersen later said it was a "black handgun," but Benz said he thought it was drugs or something drug-related. The officers decided to stop the men, and when they sped up in their squad car, they said Fong Lee dumped his bike and took off on foot.

(The family's attorney contends the squad hit the bike, knocking down Fong Lee, who then ran off.)

Andersen and Benz both got out of the car and followed him, but Benz hesitated, later saying that he considered going back to get the squad car. He began running again, though.

Andersen chased Fong Lee around the school. He later told homicide detectives that Fong Lee was carrying a pistol in his right hand and ignored commands to drop the gun.

When Fong Lee turned and raised his arm as if to fire, Andersen fired four shots, three of which struck their target, Andersen said. Fong Lee fell to the ground, and Andersen said that he again ordered him to drop the gun, but the teen raised his hand with the gun in it. Andersen fired five more rounds into him.

When other officers arrived, they found Fong Lee dead on his back with his arms outstretched. A Russian-made Baikal .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol was on the ground about 3 feet beyond his left hand, police reports and photos show.

The school's surveillance cameras caught part of the chase, and a camera on the north side caught the final 1.3 seconds before the shooting. In those seven images, Fong Lee is seen running past a brick wall. Andersen is a few feet behind him. His .45-caliber Heckler & Koch USP Tactical semi-automatic pistol, which is a little more than 8 1/2 inches long, is visible in the officer's raised right hand.

But there doesn't appear to be an obvious gun in Fong Lee's right hand in any of the frames. The last of the images shows Fong Lee running with his right arm trailing behind him, backdropped against the sunlit bricks; no dark object appears in or near his hand.

Police took the video system's hard drive to analyze the images. It appears the first official mention that the photos show Fong Lee carrying something in his hand appears in a report filed by Sgt. Kelvin Pulphus the afternoon after the shooting. He notes the images show "an Asian male with a dark object in his hand."

On July 24, two days after the shooting, Dolan held a news conference and said the photos showed Fong Lee was carrying a weapon. The gun was displayed to reporters.

Lawyers for Fong Lee's family had the video images examined by Diercks, who owns Forensic Video Inc. in Minneapolis. According to the company's Web site, its clients include lawyers, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Counsel. Diercks also owns a company that produces law enforcement training videos.

In his report, Diercks said none of the images shows anything in Fong Lee's right hand. He said the hand is visible in all but the first frame. Other frames show Fong Lee's hand "is closed into a fist," Diercks wrote.

"His knuckles are visible and form a straight, smooth line in such a manner as to preclude his gripping or holding an object the size of a firearm ... he is reportedly carrying in his right hand," he said in the report.

The Baikal .380 that police said he was carrying had a dark-blue finish. The manufacturer's specifications say it is 6 1/2 inches long.

Tim Carey contributed to this report. David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.

9:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Grand Jurys should be illegal.
They are to secretive.

10:07 AM  
Anonymous Video said...

Watch the Video http://www.twincities.com/ci_12037912

11:03 AM  

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