Minneapolis police release body-cam video of first killing since George Floyd
Police in Minneapolis have released body-camera footage from a traffic stop that ended with a man shot and killed, the city’s first such death since George Floyd’s killing in May. The quick move was aimed at stemming public anger over the killing, which has stirred anxiety about renewed protests seven months after the widespread unrest that followed Floyd’s death at the hands of police.
The shooting occurred Wednesday on the city’s south side. Police said the man – identified by his father as Dolal Idd – was a suspect in a felony and that witnesses said he had fired first.
The city released a brief clip from one officer’s body-camera in two versions, one of them slowed down to make it easier to follow. The video showed the man attempting to drive away from police before his vehicle was hemmed in, and then showed him looking through his driver’s side window at the officers. It was difficult to make out more detail.
The driver’s window shatters, an officer is heard swearing, and at least a dozen shots are fired.
Medaria Arradondo, the police chief, said a gun was found at the scene. A woman in the car was unhurt; no officers were hurt. At a news conference, Arradondo was asked whether officers used reasonable force, and he said they reacted to a deadly threat.
“When officers are experiencing gunfire, they are trained to respond,” Arradondo said. Later, when he was pressed on whether it was clear to him that the man in the car fired first, he said: “When I viewed the video that everyone else is viewing, and certainly the real-time slowed-down version, certainly it appears the individual inside the vehicle fires his weapon at the officers first.”
The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is handling an investigation into the incident.
Bayle Gelle, of Eden Prairie, told the Star Tribune on Thursday that the dead man was his son, 22-year-old Dolal Idd. Gelle told the newspaper that authorities haven’t given him any more information about what happened. He said several officers carried out a search warrant at his home Wednesday night.
“The police they are brutality,” he told the Star Tribune. “I want to get justice.”
Idd was Somali-American.
The shooting happened less than a mile (1.6km) from the street corner where Floyd, a Black man, died in May after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for minutes, even as Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death led to days of sometimes violent protest that spread around the US and resonated worldwide.
In Minneapolis, Floyd’s death also led to a push for radical change in the long-criticized police department.
Mayor Jacob Frey and Arradondo have offered several policy changes since Floyd’s death, including revising use-of-force policies and requiring officers to report on their attempts to de-escalate situations. And earlier this month the city council approved shifting $8m from the police department budget toward violence prevention and other programs.
Frey said in a statement late Wednesday that he was working with Arradondo for information on the shooting, and pledged to get it out as quickly as possible in coordination with the state investigation.
“Events of this past year have marked some of the darkest days in our city,” Frey said. “We know a life has been cut short and that trust between communities of color and law enforcement is fragile. … We must all be committed to getting the facts, pursuing justice, and keeping the peace.”
All four officers involved in Floyd’s death were fired and quickly charged. They are scheduled for trial in March.