Police officer not guilty; Fong Lee family vows to continue fight
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posted by Bob at Thursday, May 28, 2009
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Lee's family and supporters express anger at the acquittal and the judge. The family says its quest isn't over.
By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune
Last update: May 28, 2009 - 11:02 PM
The Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed 19-year-old Fong Lee in 2006 acted within the law, a federal jury decided Thursday, rejecting a lawsuit's allegations that police planted a gun and orchestrated a coverup.
After nearly six hours of deliberations the jury answered a single question: Did officer Jason Andersen, who claimed Lee had a gun, use excessive force when he shot Lee eight times during a foot chase? The jury said no, so there was no need for it to consider further questions, such as how much money would compensate the slain man's family.
The verdict brought at least some closure to a painful chapter in Minneapolis police-community relations, in which police and supporters who said Andersen behaved heroically were pitted against segments of the Hmong community and neighborhood activists who decried the killing. Their arguments rested in part on a video of part of the foot chase randomly captured by a school security camera that didn't appear to show a gun in Fong Lee's hand.
Defendants in the suit maintained the gun was there but couldn't be seen clearly because of the video's grainy quality.
Police Chief Tim Dolan said he was relieved by the verdict and hoped it would relieve some of the strain endured by Andersen and his family.
"The allegations were basically about how law enforcement does business throughout this country and what we feel is reasonable and fair," he said. "This was something we needed to win." He said the department will work to heal some of the rifts the lawsuit's well-publicized allegations caused between the department and the Hmong community.
The verdict upset family members, who were plaintiffs in the suit against Andersen and the city.
"Our quest for truth doesn't end today; we will continue to seek answers," Fong Lee's older sister Shoua Lee said to reporters. Lee and her mother, Youa Vang Lee, hugged as they cried outside the courthouse.
For weeks leading up to the trial, Lee family lawyers Michael Padden and Richard Hechter were vocal in their accusations that Andersen gunned down Lee without justification, and that Andersen or other officers then planted a gun at the scene to save the officer from the consequences.
But at trial, Padden stumbled early, incurring U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson's wrath for projecting on courtroom televisions -- mistakenly, Padden claimed -- a photograph of Lee's bullet-riddled body.
story continued-
Experts impeached
And as the five-day trial progressed, assistant Minneapolis city attorneys Jim Moore and Greg Sautter picked apart key plaintiffs' witnesses, for example, using a video recording to force one to admit that Andersen's squad car didn't knock Fong Lee off his bicycle, as the witness first claimed.
In cross-examining Philip Corrigan, the plaintiffs' expert on the use of force, Moore elicited that although Corrigan spent 20 years on the Tucson (Ariz.) Police Department, he was not certified to teach the use of force. Corrigan also acknowledged that until Moore told him, he had been unaware of the main U.S. Supreme Court case on deadly force.
In contrast, the city's expert, Michael Brave, has taught deadly force and cited many Supreme Court cases. He testified that "officers do not have to be shot before they return fire. ... The relevant factor is whether officer Andersen perceived a gun, not whether or not I can speculate he could see a gun."
Both Andersen and his partner that night, state trooper Craig Benz, testified they saw a gun in Lee's hand.
A low point for the city, however, was the testimony of Lt. Mike Fossum, whose handling of a gun found in a snowbank in 2004 raised questions.
A .380-caliber Russian-made Baikal handgun was found near Lee's body. The gun was reported stolen in February 2004 by North Side resident Dang Her.
Her testified Fossum called him in 2004 and told him the gun had been recovered. But the city said misunderstandings and paperwork mistakes by Fossum only made it later appear to be in custody. The city said the gun recovered from a snowbank in February 2004 was a 7.65 caliber FNH, not Her's gun.
Fossum's testimony was confusing at best.
'Beyond disappointment'
Magnuson read the verdict shortly after 1 p.m., before the many Lee family members had returned from lunch. Neither Andersen nor the lawyers were in the courtroom.
Lee family members expressed anger and sadness at the jury's decision and how it was read without them.
Tou Ger Xiong, a member of the Coalition for Community Relations, which he described as a group of concerned citizens, angrily said he had many questions. He called the verdict "beyond disappointment and beyond disbelief."
The message, he said, is "Watch out. If a cop thinks you pose a threat, you will be shot and you will be killed."
He questioned the lack of diversity on the jury. Although there were racial minorities in the jury pool of 77, all 12 jurors appeared to be white.
Xiong said he wants a "federal, independent" investigation of the shooting.
In 2007, a Hennepin County grand jury cleared Andersen of criminal wrongdoing. Then, in a move critics said could be perceived as bad public relations, the Minneapolis department in July awarded him the Medal of Valor, one of the department's highest honors for bravery, for his actions in the shooting.
Lt. John Delmonico, head of the police federation, said he wasn't surprised by the verdict. He said Andersen was doing his job. "When somebody confronts somebody with a gun, the police chase after him to get the gun and the bad guy off the street," Delmonico said.
Star Tribune staff writer David Chanen contributed to this report. Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747
When will this police volince stop.
Maybe when a mayors kid get the same from these highly train cops, or maybe the governors kid.
Maybe your kid.
Lets see, Fong Lee has his backed turned while he is being chased.
The Officer is chasing Lee with what the officer says is a gun in Lees hand.
This means the officer is scared for his life right ?
The video shows Fong Lee has NO gun.
Lee is shot 8 times(cop is trigger happy).
Now remember folks, this was a civil trial with a cause of action alleging the cop used excessive force which the jury didn't believe.
Because the action was one for excessive force (a civil cause of action not a criminal one), the question was put before the jury about excessive force as if the gun found was really there and belonged to Lee.
With no DNA or finger prints on the gun, how did this jury conclude that Lee even had a gun ?
What about the video ?
I would love to see the transcripts of this trial when the weapon is being introduced and challenged as evidence. I wonder if the plaintiffs attorneys did a piss poor job when the gun issue came up a trial.
You take the gun out as evidence or discredit it enough, the jury must conclude by preponderence of the evidence that this cop is guilty.
JM.
Bad decision. The kid was executed gangland style.....shot 3 times in the back and finished off 5 more times in the front. The poll at the St Paul paper is 2 to 1 that the verdict was wrong.
FIXED !!!!!!!!!!!
PLAINTIFFS ATTORNEYS ARE TURNCOATS !
I said it before and will say it again:
The Minneapolis Police Department is the most dangerous in the state for the average citizen. They are never, ever your friend or trying to help you.
I don't engage with them, or deal with them in any manner. They have perfected the art of 'beating the rap'. This is just another case under the rug in a long line of cases including a recent one where they machine gunned their own cop- well he was Asian and nobody told the cop he was one of them, B.S.
Too bad the gun toting gangbangers are not in as much danger from the MPD as is the average citizen.
Stay the hell away if you can.
Eric
I never ever thought I would see the day when Eric stood up against the government! You been drinking the toilet water Eric? I remember when I was a small boy and my dad worked in Mpls. My mom took him to work every day and then picked him up. A couple of times they were stopped by the Mipls Police and treated very badly. It was worse then because courtesy and respect were much more common in those times than today. I've never forgotten how dirty those cops were to my parents. How can there be such a difference between two Police department that are only seperated by a river?
The reason it's different in St.Paul is because St.Paul hires black police chiefs.
It's typical of cities to hire black police chiefs to instill a sence of calmness in a city of blacks who are profiled.
It's St.Pauls way of saying are cops don't racially profile against blacks because the chief is black.
Which takes us back to Mr. Finney again!
Finney was a dirty cop, like his brothers in Minneapolis.
2:30
I don't defend government- I'm just not convinced that there was ever a case to be made for RICO.
If you read what I write, and not how others characterize me, you'll see that every time we got into a debate, I was to point out that I can believe there is discrimination based on race or class but, its not a conspiracy in St Paul. Thats the difference. I know too many contractors and people who run into it. They usually file a complaint against the person or department and the matter is resolved- or somebody lies and its not. However, a conspiracy throughout the city (4,000 employees and contractors), in partnership with the County among the attornys, police, DSI, Fire Department, Sheriff's Office, County Attorneys Office and the county judges is just a bit much for me to believe. As it was for the federal judge who dismissed it for lack of evidence.
Back to Minneapolis. I lived there, worked politics there for a while and was a civil rights commissioner when I first moved to the Twin Cities. I saw hundreds of complaints. That police department is rotten to the core.
The difference between the two has nothing to do with a black Chief (that's a dumbass insulting statement to blacks) as much as it has to do with homegrown talent.
Even those cops who are not from St Paul are OK with living here. Both, this Chief and the former Chief live on the East Side. The President of the Federation lives in the city too. Many of the young recruits, including a couple of my neighbors live here too.
In Minneapolis, they recruit from all over outside of the state. From top to bottom. So there is no connection to the people they're policing. I found out that if you want to find a Minneapolis cop, go to Maple Grove and Elk River. I bought my first house in Maple Grove from a MPLS cop and was informed that the Sheriff lived around the corner and my state rep was a Mpls cop named Rich Stanek. These guys from Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, Nebraska come here to be cops and never interact with the folks they police outside of work. It make for an us versus them attitude that is volatile.
Having them focus their criminal and illegal activity in the poor neighborhoods in Minneapolis, keep the people with money and influence (Wards 11, 12, and 13- all far south) far from the everyday hell some resident in other parts go through. Imagine having to look out for gangbangers AND the police. The people removed from all of that watch it on the news at night and readily give the police the benefit of the doubt.
The mayor is from those areas. He lost the poor wards in his last election but, won the areas with money and influence, the areas where people turn out to vote.
If he was black- nothing would be different. Look at the black cops that sued their own department just last year. Drive through North and Northeast and talk to families about how many are physically confronted by these cops. You'll be surprised. Even having a black mayor and changing Chiefs didn't make much difference because its deep in the culture of that department.
If Fong Lee's name was Justin Carlson and he was shot by Southwest High instead of North High, the mayor would have fired the chief, publicly apologized, and announced a re-haul of the department, after he turn over oversight to the FBI. They would have settled with the family and he wouldn't be running for re-election.
Eric
"However, a conspiracy throughout the city (4,000 employees and contractors), in partnership with the County among the attornys, police, DSI, Fire Department, Sheriff's Office, County Attorneys Office and the county judges is just a bit much for me to believe. As it was for the federal judge who dismissed it for lack of evidence."
Not all those people are involved Eric....just some. You'll be suprised what transpires over the summer regarding the landlords case.
In the meantime I am happy to hear that you at least admit that they lie and cover up when they can
What would you say about a city offical colluding with neighbors to make inspection trouble for black landlords so the neighbors can buy the property for less than market value Eric?
How about using the Police to go after people with trumped up Search Warrants so they can look for code violations?
OK, somebody needs to say the other side, so I will.
First the case is one of excessive force, nothing more nothing less. So, the question is does the cop use reasonable force? To be reasonable force the cop has to have a rational reason for fearing for his life.
So, the cops come on the seen, this kid falls (was not knocked off as aledged, there was film that shows that didn't happen) off his bike and starts running. One cop yells to the other that this kid has a gun. That cop then follows the running kid yelling at him to stop.
The cop is running with his weapon drawn (you see that in their film clip) clearly believing that this kid has a gun.
At some point the kid stops and the cop says, turns and points a gun at him.
The cop fires three shots the kid falls, the cop says the kid starts to get up with the weapon in hand and he unloads the rest of his clip.
The lawyers for the police showed the jury pictures from the same cameras where it appears that the kid had a gun.
The kids lawyers argue that the police planted the gun. They can't prove it, but they argue it.
The reason why that has little impact on the jury is that all that needs to be shown is, did the cop have reason to fear for his life?
They appear to believe that the cop being told someone has a gun, their refusing to stop, leading the cop into a place where they are alone and then turning and pointing anything at him is reason for the cop to fear for his life.
Case closed.
JMONTOMEPPOF
Chuck Repke
Not quite Repke. You tie it all up in a neat little package, but what if it were your kid? The didn't have a photo that showed he had a gun. The cop acted too quick. Cakset closed. WOuld you be so generous if it were your kid inside? I don't think so.
12:15 - the police lawyers showed blow ups of the photo's of Lee that they said had a gun in his hand and it sounds like the jury believed what they saw.
Again, the issue you have on a reasonable force case is, did the cop have reason to believe he was going to be shot? That is what the jury must have believed.
Cops don't have to wait until someone shoots them to shoot back. They are allowed to shoot if they believe their life is in danger.
That was all the lawyers had to prove.
That is why planting a gun is on the face of it silly. The results in court would have been the same if the would have found a cell phone or a cap gun near his hand.
It is what did the cop think was going on?
One thing that I have known my entire life as have my sons, you don't run from the cops unless you want your brain blown away.
Anytime I have ever had a cop pull me over I want to make damn certain I don't do anything that might make him...fear for his life.
JMONTOMEPPOF
Chuck Repke
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
How many times did the cop shoot the 19-year-old Fong Lee.
Police officer not guilty of the murder of Fong Lee.
But how many others did he kill?
"Killers - Killers"!
How many people become law enforcement just because they have a thing about killing thing that are human or animal.
When something is dead it can't speak out about what happen.
How about hunters that don't eat the meat they killed, the thrill of killing is in people or cops.
Did he do it, or not bloggers.
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