Minneapolis Police Misconduct - Video and Picture

[WaTcHeR]

Officer Rick Thomas and Officer Mike Fossum

06.08.2006 - Security video at the center of a Minneapolis police misconduct investigation has been released to the media by Little Earth officials.

Some residents of the Native American housing complex accuse two Minneapolis police officers of hitting a man and then leaving him handcuffed inside a very hot car until he passed out.

The investigation pits the stories of Rick Thomas and Mike Fossum, two veteran Minneapolis police lieutenants, against Juan Vasquez, a man they arrested at the Little Earth housing complex.

The following is a timeline of the events as recorded on the tape the evening of May 26th:

7:01 - Security cameras capture Vasquez involved in a fight with another man.

7:10 - Vasquez is handcuffed and taken into custody by two Minneapolis police officers.

7:12 - Vasquez is being led away in handcuffs by one officer, when a second officer appears to intentionally bump into him. Vazquez briefly folds at the waist. His father later describes the bump as a punch in the stomach. Vasquez's family says he was then placed in a hot squad car with the windows rolled up.

7:17 - A squad car comes into view, though it is unclear on the video if Vasquez is already inside. Two officers get out and shut the front doors. The windows that are visible appear to be closed.

7:28 - Eleven minutes after the officers exit the car; a woman can be seen looking inside the car. She walks away and returns a minute later with two police officers who open doors on the squad car.

7:35 - Medical personnel arrive, followed by an ambulance. Vasquez's family says he is unconscious in the back seat, overcome by heat in the closed car on a day when outside temperatures reached into the 80s.

7:41 - Vasquez is seen on his feet, being escorted away from the car.

Clyde Bellecourt of the American Indian Movement is among those calling for a federal investigation into the conduct of the officers. The U.S. Attorney's Office acknowledges the request, but says no decision has been made.

Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan says the "shoulder bump" will be closely scrutinized by investigators from his department. "Was the force justified or not, was it accidental or not."

Dolan says investigators will be checking temperatures, medical data and talking to witnesses to determine if leaving Vasquez in the car was humane. He says he hopes to make an announcement about "which direction we're heading" by next Tuesday.

For now Thomas and Fossum remain on paid administrative leave.

Video: www.kare11.com/video/player.aspx?aid=28299&bw=

www.kare11.com/video/player.aspx?aid=28296&bw=

[WaTcHeR]

Who is officer Rick Thomas? Suspended MPD cop well-known at Little Earth

06.09.2006 - When two Minneapolis cops were suspended Monday over an arrest at Little Earth, one of the names was familiar to MPD observers and Little Earth residents alike. Lt. Rick Thomas, who has been on the force since 1981, is an officer in the city's Third Precinct, and for the last couple years has been hired off-duty at the housing complex in south Minneapolis.

In fact, Thomas was involved in one high-profile incident previously at Little Earth.

A CP cover story detailing million-dollar payouts the city has made in response to police brutality allegations noted the incident. (See "The Hit Parade Revisited," 7/20/2005.) Lt. Richard K. Thomas was one of several officers named in a federal lawsuit over a drug search at Little Earth in September 2002.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, MPD officers busted down the doors of an apartment there and proceeded to kick several residents, while throwing them to the floor and handcuffing them. One, a woman who was eight months pregnant, was pulled out of the shower and was forced, naked, stomach-down onto the floor, according to the complaint. The suit was settled for $60,000.

According to his personnel file, Thomas was never disciplined for the incident. Thomas was suspended once in 2000, related to guidelines regarding "professional code of conduct" and "computer use." And a year ago, he was suspended for a "code of ethics violation."

Thomas's named surfaced again earlier this year when the MPD awarded a Medal of Valor to Sgt. Danny May for a 1990 incident in which he shot and killed a fleeing 17-year-old. (See "The Gang That Shot Itself in the Foot," CP 1/25/2006.) The award, which revisited so many bad memories that May eventually refused it, came from an MPD committee of 13 members. The coordinator of that committee was Lt. Rick Thomas.

Even so, Thomas has drawn praise for his work around Little Earth. "I am writing to commend the outstanding community policing relationship that Lt. Rick Thomas has established with the Little Earth community," wrote former Little Earth director Ellie Webster in a September 2003 letter that is in Thomas's personnel file.

And while many were calling for Thomas's termination this week, others at Little Earth defended him. "He's done a lot for the community," says Martha Fast Horse, who lived at Little Earth for five years and worked as a police dispatcher there for two. "We've had officers removed from here because they were cleaning things up a little too much. Lt. Thomas wasn't one of them"

[WaTcHeR]

06.16.2006 - The city attorney's office will soon be looking at possible charges for two Minneapolis police officers accused of misconduct during an arrest at the Little Earth housing complex, the Police Department announced Tuesday.

The May 26 incident was partially caught on a security tape, which showed a police officer bumping into a handcuffed man, who then doubled over. Witnesses also said the suspect passed out after he was held in a police car, with the windows closed, on a hot day.

Interim Police Chief Tim Dolan and other police officials met Tuesday with representatives of the FBI, the Hennepin County attorney's office and the city attorney's office to discuss the preliminary investigation into the officers' conduct.

After the meeting, the Police Department said in a prepared statement that it will present a case within two weeks to city prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

Meanwhile, police Lts. Richard Thomas and Michael Fossum remained on paid administrative leave. Their status will be reviewed after the case has been submitted.

The FBI has reserved the right to review the final investigation for possible civil rights violations, police said.

According to police reports, Thomas and Fossum saw a man with a baggie of what they suspected to be crack cocaine. They arrested Juan T. Vasquez, 24, of St. Paul, who was visiting his girlfriend and son and doesn't live at the housing complex.

Thomas has been with the department since 1981; Fossum since 1986.

Both men's personnel files contain several medals and commendations. Thomas's includes two letters of commendation from an official of the Little Earth of United Tribes Housing Corp. in 2003, the same year he coached a Little Earth boys' basketball team.

Neither man's file included any reprimands for violence or improper conduct with a suspect.

[Martha Fast Horse]

watcher said:

Who is officer Rick Thomas? Suspended MPD cop well-known at Little Earth

06.09.2006 - When two Minneapolis cops were suspended Monday over an arrest at Little Earth, one of the names was familiar to MPD observers and Little Earth residents alike. Lt. Rick Thomas, who has been on the force since 1981, is an officer in the city's Third Precinct, and for the last couple years has been hired off-duty at the housing complex in south Minneapolis.

In fact, Thomas was involved in one high-profile incident previously at Little Earth.

A CP cover story detailing million-dollar payouts the city has made in response to police brutality allegations noted the incident. (See "The Hit Parade Revisited," 7/20/2005.) Lt. Richard K. Thomas was one of several officers named in a federal lawsuit over a drug search at Little Earth in September 2002.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, MPD officers busted down the doors of an apartment there and proceeded to kick several residents, while throwing them to the floor and handcuffing them. One, a woman who was eight months pregnant, was pulled out of the shower and was forced, naked, stomach-down onto the floor, according to the complaint. The suit was settled for $60,000.

According to his personnel file, Thomas was never disciplined for the incident. Thomas was suspended once in 2000, related to guidelines regarding "professional code of conduct" and "computer use." And a year ago, he was suspended for a "code of ethics violation."

Thomas's named surfaced again earlier this year when the MPD awarded a Medal of Valor to Sgt. Danny May for a 1990 incident in which he shot and killed a fleeing 17-year-old. (See "The Gang That Shot Itself in the Foot," CP 1/25/2006.) The award, which revisited so many bad memories that May eventually refused it, came from an MPD committee of 13 members. The coordinator of that committee was Lt. Rick Thomas.

Even so, Thomas has drawn praise for his work around Little Earth. "I am writing to commend the outstanding community policing relationship that Lt. Rick Thomas has established with the Little Earth community," wrote former Little Earth director Ellie Webster in a September 2003 letter that is in Thomas's personnel file.

And while many were calling for Thomas's termination this week, others at Little Earth defended him. "He's done a lot for the community," says Martha Fast Horse, who lived at Little Earth for five years and worked as a police dispatcher there for two. "We've had officers removed from here because they were cleaning things up a little too much. Lt. Thomas wasn't one of them"