FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 11, 2019

RACIAL JUSTICE GROUPS DEMAND ANSWERS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN CASE INVOLVING WHITE MOTORIST WHO RAN OVER BLACK PEDESTRIANS IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS.

Please be advised that on Thursday, July 11th, 2019 at 12:00pm on West Broadway and Lyndale the Racial Justice Network and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities will be holding a press conference to discuss the mishandling by Metro Transit Police of a pending investigation involving a white male motorist slamming his van into a bus shelter and significantly injuring multiple black men.

Metro Transit Police (MTP), a department within the MET Council, has a long and disturbing history of unequal and discriminatory treatment towards African American residents in the Twin Cities. African Americans have experienced racial profiling, harassment, and excessive force at the hands of MTP and those issues have never been remedied. Two days ago, MTP began investigating an egregious incident in which a white male driver from Champlin allegedly hit a Metro Transit Bus twice and then crashed into a bus shelter; severely injuring multiple Black men in North Minneapolis.

“It is outrageous that MTP would half-heartedly investigate this case, disregard the testimony of Black witnesses, and treat the perpetrator as a ‘harmless grandpa’, as opposed to a perpetrator in this incident. MTP did not even bother to conduct a sobriety test to determine whether drugs or alcohol were a factor,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney and activist.

“Had a black man driven his vehicle into a crowd of white people at a local bus stop, there would have been hell to pay. He would have been immediately arrested or killed by police, his mugshot and criminal history would have been all over the media, and he would still be in custody, with almost no chance of seeing the light of day,” said Chauntyll Allen, head of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities.

We demand the following:

1. An independent investigation of this incident;
2. That charges be filed, pending the outcome of the investigation;
3. MTP officers who failed to conduct a field sobriety test be reprimanded;
4. Immediate replacement of a new bus shelter in the area;
5. A Northside community meeting with MET Council Chair, Nora Slawik, and Chief of MTP, AJ Olson.