Rare News Desk
About a year ago, I moved to St. Paul, Minn. for grad school. It’s been great living here, but I must say, I’m worried about my dog’s safety. My worry doesn’t stem from concerns about traffic, crime, or environmental hazards.
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No, I’m worried because of the Saint Paul Police Department.
In July, there was a story about a family whose two dogs were executed by police during a no-knock raid for marijuana possession in a St. Paul neighborhood just a few miles from my house. The family says one dog was shot as he fled in fear; the raid, meanwhile, produced minimal evidence to feed the hungry maw of the trillion-dollar failure that is the war on drugs.
“All of a sudden, we see the dogs thrown out like pieces of meat, like they were nothing,” said a neighbor of the family whose dogs were shot. “We teared up because they are like family to us. Those dogs are real good dogs.”
This isn’t an isolated incident for the SPPD. Just a few years ago, the Saint Paul Police killed another family dog…and forced handcuffed children to sit next to its bleeding corpse for more than an hour while they ransacked the home.
The kicker? The raid wasn’t even in the right house!
That family whose dog was killed wasn’t suspected of any crime. Is my dog next?
And it’s not just dogs that are in danger of SPPD brutality, as evidenced by a new report. This time, a young father named Chris Lollie was arrested while waiting to pick up his kids from school. The charges were “Trespassing, Disorderly Conduct, and Obstructing Legal Process.” Police claimed he refused to leave an area reserved for employees of the bank building he was in. However, not only were there no signs indicating that the location was private, but Lollie wasn’t even in the bank proper; he was in the skyway.
For those who aren’t familiar with the skyway system, it’s a thing we have in St. Paul and some other Minnesota cities. Basically, it gets really cold here in the winter, so they built enclosed sidewalks one or two stories up. Unless marked private—which this one was not—skyways are public spaces. You do not have to be an employee or resident of the buildings they connect to use them.
Fortunately, Lollie had the presence of mind to capture his interaction with the SPPD on film. In the video, Lollie can be heard interacting in a calm and polite manner with the female officer who illegally demands to see his ID as she follows him long after he’s left the contested skyway area. As the officer brushes aside his explanation of his rights, Lollie cuts to the chase: “The problem is I’m black. That’s the problem. No, it really is, because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Next, Lollie and the female officer meet a male officer. When Lollie politely asks the man not to touch or obstruct him, because he has to go get his kids, the man immediately responds, “Well, you’re going to go to jail then.”
As the police initiate the arrest process—telling him to put his hands behind his back or “otherwise things are going to get ugly“—the camera visuals go black. Lollie continues to be heard pleading, still polite even while he’s assaulted, that he be allowed to go meet his children.
Next, they tase him.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWH578nAasM&w=420&h=315]
After multiple witnesses verified Lollie’s version of events, prosecutors dropped all charges against him. One woman who is also not an employee at the bank, said that she sits during her lunch break exactly where Lollie was sitting and has never been harassed by police. However, the SPPD continue to defend their actions.
This comes from a police department which continues to refuse to wear body cameras, despite their upcoming adoption in our twin city, Minneapolis—not to mention their proven success at reducing police use of force by as much as 60 percent. Is it too much to ask for a simple accountability measure can keep Saint Paul’s citizens (and our pets) more secure?
As Lollie is carried away post-tasing, he can be heard challenging the officers’ “legal” assault: “Who are you? You don’t rule me. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t hurt anybody. I didn’t touch anybody.”
If only the SPPD could say the same.
