Top cop resigns after shooting
MINNEAPOLIS Minneapolis police chief Janee Harteau has resigned at the request of the city’s mayor, who said she had lost confidence in the chief after last weekend’s fatal police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911.
Harteau said yesterday: ‘‘I’ve decided I am willing to step aside to let a fresh set of leadership eyes see what more can be done for the MPD to be the very best it can be.’’
Mayor Betsy Hodges said she asked for Harteau’s resignation after assessing where the department needed to go.
‘‘It is clear that she has lost the confidence of the people of Minneapolis as well,’’ Hodges said. ‘‘For us to continue to transform policing – and community trust in policing – we need new leadership at MPD.’’
Hours later, Hodges was interrupted as she tried to elaborate on Harteau’s departure at a City Hall news conference. A few dozen protesters entered the room and demanded her resignation, chanting ‘‘Bye-bye Betsy’’ as they waved signs that said ‘‘ Messy Betsy’’ and ‘‘You are next.’’ Hodges eventually walked out as they surrounded her at the podium, but returned later to take questions from reporters.
She said she understood and shared the public’s frustrations but ‘‘I will not be resigning’’.
Harteau, who worked her way up from the bottom of the department to become the city’s first female, first openly gay and first Native American police chief, said she was proud of the work she had accomplished and had been honoured to serve as chief. But she said the shooting of 40-yearold Justine Damond by one of her officers and other incidents ‘‘have caused me to engage in deep reflection’’. She said she had to ‘‘put the communities we serve first’’ despite the department’s accomplishments under her leadership.
Harteau was out of the city on personal time for nearly a week following the shooting of Damond, a life coach and bride-to-be who was killed by an officer responding to her 911 call of a possible rape.
The state is investigating the shooting.
In her first remarks about the case on Friday, when she returned to work, Harteau defended the training of Mohamed Noor, the Somali-American officer who shot Damond, but was sharply critical of him.
Still, some city council members called for a change in leadership. Linea Palmisano, who represents the ward where Damond died, told fellow council members that she was ‘‘done with image control and crisis management’’ and that it was ‘‘time for action’’.
After Harteau’s resignation, Palmisano said she was looking forward to the start of changes REUTERS that she felt the department needed to make.
Harteau had a rocky tenure in the top post and had become a political liability for Hodges. Their relationship was strained, particularly after the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark during a confrontation with two white police officers in 2015. The black man’s death, amid heightened tensions across the US, sparked protests citywide, including an 18-day occupation outside the police station. AP REUTERS