cannabisnews.com: Melee Breaks Out After Police Shooting





Melee Breaks Out After Police Shooting
Posted by CN Staff on August 23, 2002 at 09:22:41 PT
By Lisa Donovan & Judith Yates Borger
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press 
About 75 to 100 people in the Jordan neighborhood of North Minneapolis rioted Thursday evening after police said an officer accidentally shot an 11-year-old boy in the arm while executing a search warrant. The boy did not have life-threatening injuries and was released from the hospital, Minneapolis police said.Several vehicles were damaged and at least six people were injured, including three journalists covering the incident. A Metro Transit bus had several windows smashed and three passengers sustained scrapes, one requiring hospital treatment. A station wagon and an SUV were set on fire.
By midnight, about a dozen police cars filled with officers in riot gear were continuing to monitor the neighborhood, particularly the corner of 26th and Knox avenues. A Minnesota State Patrol helicopter flew overhead, using infrared equipment to look for lingering groups of people.Police said the neighborhood appeared to be quieting.The incident began about 7:15 p.m. when police executed a search warrant at 1716 26th Ave. N., looking for narcotics. As one officer got out of a police van, he saw a man in front of the house with a pit bull on a leash, according to Cyndi Barrington, Minneapolis police spokeswoman.The officer said to the man, "Do not let that dog go," but the man released the dog. According to Barrington, the police officer shot and killed the dog, and at least one bullet ricocheted off the concrete sidewalk and hit the boy, whom police called a bystander.Barrington said the boy, who was taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, was not in the direct line of fire."It's a very unfortunate situation," she said.Shortly after the shooting, a crowd gathered at the scene. A source close to the investigation said, "They were pelting us (police) with rocks and bottles. We needed to get out of there."Police said the crowd started gathering and rumors were spreading about how the boy was injured. Police said some of those rumors were incorrect. They said people then were running and screaming through the neighborhood, throwing rocks and bottles at officers and journalists.Some neighborhood residents appeared to be afraid and ran for cover.Don and Sondra Samuels, who have lived in the neighborhood for four years and have picketed against drug dealers in the house where the warrant was executed, went to 26th and Knox as soon as they heard about the problems."The raid (by police) was absolutely legitimate," Sondra Samuels said.The Samuelses, who are black, were upset that they heard "a lot of race rhetoric. This was a race riot," Sondra Samuels said."There was a comfort level in the crowd with the violence that was taking place," said Don Samuels."It was a little bit scary the way the police withdrew," Don Samuels said. "If I were a law-abiding white resident and the police withdrew like that I would feel abandoned.""I heard some scary language," Don Samuels said. "Clearly this was not my community talking. Those people giving voice to the community were totally anathema to the life I want to live."Three people, all of Minneapolis, were arrested in connection with the search warrant, police said. They were Jermaine Jerrell Miller, 19, Leasha Ann Dewitt, 26, and Shirley Ann Powell, 48, a resident of the house police were searching. Miller was arrested in connection with drug charges; the other two are facing weapons charges.Last year, police were called to the house six times and have been there 13 times so far this year.Thursday's search warrant uncovered one gun, as well as several packages of marijuana "that were ready for sale on the street," according to the source familiar with the incident.Tensions in the neighborhood have been running high following an incident Aug. 13 in which police shot and wounded a 19-year-old African-American man who allegedly pointed a gun at an officer. In the aftermath of that situation, a white police officer was alleged to have made a disparaging reference — "You all got one of ours. Now we got one of yours." — about a previous shooting.The alleged statement, currently under investigation by police internal affairs, referred to a South Minneapolis shooting on Aug. 1 that left an African-American woman and a white police officer dead."It has been an extremely tense situation," Barrington said.Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak canceled appointments for this morning to be in the community."We've spent a fair amount of time in that community with people who want the police to address drug issues,'' Rybak said. "There are many other members who want to have a better dialogue with the police."This is not a simple issue."At one point, four Pioneer Press journalists escaped as about 20 people surrounded their car, pelting it with glass and debris. A rock hit photographer Nate Thomson on the head before he got into the car. He received stitches at North Memorial and was released."I've never seen anything like it," said public safety reporter Lisa Donovan. "People were coming at us and they were screaming, 'Let's get 'em.' "Abraham Awaijane, who owns the Big Stop Foods at the corner of 26th and Knox, said he saw some members of a group of about 50 people pull Howie Padilla, a Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter, out of a station wagon and beat him up. Awaijane said he pulled Padilla into the store and locked the building.The group then set a station wagon on fire, he said."They attacked a news truck, too," the witness said. The vehicle, an abandoned KMSP-TV sport-utility vehicle, had been pelted with rocks and other debris. A WCCO-TV vehicle was also damaged when its windows were broken out.Padilla and Pioneer Press reporter Judith Yates Borger took shelter in the Big Stop Foods store for about an hour until police arrived. Borger said Padilla looked beaten up and was confused about what day of the week it was.Another Star Tribune reporter, David Chanen, was also assaulted, according to the newspaper.KMSP news director Dana Benson said that at one point a reporter, photographer and a truck operator were chased into their satellite truck and were able to lock themselves in while people were pounding on it. They called their newsroom, and police arrived to rescue them. No one was injured, but the truck was damaged to the point it was undrivable, and the other KMSP vehicle was lit on fire and destroyed. Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)Author: Lisa Donovan, Judith Yates Borger, Amy Mayron and Phillip PinaPublished: Friday, August 23, 2002Copyright: 2002 St. Paul Pioneer PressContact: letters pioneerpress.comWebsite: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/CannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by karkulus on August 23, 2002 at 20:49:06 PT
YES! Observer!..
  well said,and that link you gave is a good example of the whole "pharmacy/sorcery " screwiness! I have a link buried in my "favorites" ,somewhere about how "pharmakeia" once simply meant" The Cure" ,when they used human sacrifices! Then later it was applied to "magic rituals" ,then eventually to medicinal herbs! It would be like if today some said "Alka-seltzer works like magic!" or something like that and jerry falwell thought it involved Satanism! If I ever find that link I'll post it!(And apologies if I got it from you or someone else here ,my links are so scrambled -up it would take 2 days to sort them right!..ha!) 
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Comment #4 posted by Nuevo Mexican on August 23, 2002 at 15:07:52 PT
Thanks Observer!
I wish I could articulate things as well as you, and you have hit the nail on its head! It is about the life of the planet, and the lives of people, as we are the Creators tools, learning to live in harmony, with each other and the earth, not as most religions teach, that Nature is the enemy! Native American are here to teach us these techniques, but will we listen? Only when forced to! What a shame! 
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Comment #3 posted by observer on August 23, 2002 at 14:58:51 PT
Police, Community Rally Together in Harmony
Another little Weed and Seed? 
The initiative’s name describes a two-pronged strategy: to "weed out" violent offenders [read: any adult smoking any amount of marijuana] via intensive law enforcement and prosecution efforts, [woo hoo! Raises and new hiring at the police and prosecutor's office!] and to "seed" neighborhoods with prevention, intervention, treatment, and revitalization services. [he he he -- ditto! Raises, bonus checks, and a big "conference" in the Virgin Islands for all! Well, all government police state workers, at least.] http://www.pccd.state.pa.us/WEEDSEED/whatis.htm police said an officer accidentally shot an 11-year-old boy in the arm while executing a search warrant. Details! Hey: Aren't we so glad the nice officers were out saving the children from dangerous drugs? Wasn't Officerly Friendly from DARE was right? Drugs are dangerous, and this proves just how drugs can hurt people! I think we need more police and government to protect us from all those naughty drugs. Shortly after the shooting, a crowd gathered at the scene. A source close to the investigation said, "They were pelting us (police) with rocks and bottles. We needed to get out of there."Ah, the community support is indeed heartwarming. Authorities, working hand in hand with community leaders, neighbors; citizens. All striving for a goal more worthy than liberty, an end more lofty than freedom: Drug-Freedom. Yes, communities like this one, working dilligently with officials, are making us freer than free by making us Drug-Free. (Tears well up in eyes.) Oh, America, America: isn't it encouraging to know that government and governed can work together so harmoniously?Ah there we go ... buried we see what the "narcotics" (plural) are:The incident began about 7:15 p.m. when police executed a search warrant at 1716 26th Ave. N., looking for narcotics. ... Thursday's search warrant uncovered one gun, as well as several packages of marijuana "that were ready for sale on the street," according to the source familiar with the incident.See? There! The good Officers were there to save the children from the "narcotics" ... and indeed: that evil dangerous wicked sinful (it makes pharmakeia witches out of innocent children http://www.letusreason.org/Curren10.htm !) marijuana is "narcotics", is it not?A Minnesota State Patrol helicopter flew overhead, using infrared equipment to look for lingering groups of people.Ah yes, situation back to normal: police "watching over" the people. 
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Comment #2 posted by Letsgetfree on August 23, 2002 at 10:23:01 PT
it must start with the poor minorties
because these are the people who from the beginging of Amerika got shafted. The revolution must begin with them. And this story, and the LA riots in the 90s show how all we need is for the pigs to light the fuse and watch as it all blows up. The farce that is American democracy began with a revolution, the second one must do the job RIGHT. While this story is a small incident, think of it as a possitive. As Asscroft Assa Shrub Dick and the rest tighten their fist the ones who get the short end of the stick will fight back. But it's not enough for just them to do it. We must all leave behind our comfortable lives and fight this monsterous evil that has taken command our once beautiful planet. It may already be too late, but with faith, friendship, hope, rage, and the knowledge that WE ARE FIGHTING FOR GOOD, we can win this battle. I don't just mean the WoSD, I'm talking about the war for the planet, the war that took down Argentina, that is squeezing Brazil by the balls, that has raped our earth in the name of progress. I'm talking about a complete reorganization of our planet. The Western Empire, and this includes Canada and Europe (so all you Americans who think you can just move to Canada and escape the maddness, think twice), is preparing for the oil crisis to come, and once this begins (2006-2012ish) watch our economies fall apart, watch as the destruction of our planet goes on and on, and watch as the police state takes compleate control in the interests of the elite. Scary times, but the sun still shines, and the spirit still breathes, and until that changes I wont give up hope.Letsgetfree
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on August 23, 2002 at 09:51:37 PT:
Another little kid gets shot by police...
All over a bag of weed. A...bag...of...weed. Remember that execrable MTV show with Serena Altschul? Remember how she was on the Mex border and the Customs agennts had found a van loaded with weed? Remember what the Customs uniform with her said about their seizure of it 'protecting the community'...from weed?I think I'd prefer to see adults smoking weed rather than a little kid getting shot.Nice job of 'protecting the community', you flaming doofens!Anyone who thinks little kids 'get over' trauma like that should consider what may happen in the future with psychological problems caused by the incident. Like the kid becoming so twisted by being shot by 'da po-leece' that he eventually grows up...to be a cop-killer.
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