Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS
The mayor of Minneapolis asked Monday for a federal civil-rights investigation into the weekend shooting of a black man by a police officer during an apparent struggle.
Mayor Betsy Hodges said she wrote to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and to the U.S. attorney for Minnesota seeking the investigation in the “interest of transparency and community confidence.” The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension already is conducting a criminal investigation, but Hodges said the city needs “all the tools we have available to us.”
Authorities have released few details about the shooting, which has angered some community members after witnesses said the man was handcuffed when he was shot. Police said their initial information showed the man, a suspect in an assault, was not handcuffed. He was taken to a hospital after the shooting, and his family says he is on life support.
The incident sparked protests Sunday and an overnight encampment at the north Minneapolis police precinct near the site of the shooting. Community members and activists called for a federal investigation, as well as for authorities to release video of the incident and the officer’s identity.
Protests continued Monday, with a few hundred people gathering at an evening rally outside the same precinct, beating a drum and chanting for justice.