MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The mainstream media, Democratic leadership, Black Lives Matter, and Antifa would like everyone to believe that all citizens demand for police departments to be defunded nationwide.
However, as crime is starting to increase, specifically in Minneapolis, Minnesota, law abiding citizens are demanding increases in police, and are following through with lawsuits aimed to stop the decrease of staffing levels.
Minneapolis PD is fleeing, can’t blame them. Citizens are now suing the council and mayor because of the drop in staffing at the agency. Watch for Law Enforcement today for the article. https://t.co/DDTW3aNikB
— Chris Elliott (@ChrisElliott504) August 29, 2020
The city council in Minneapolis, not too long ago, vowed to disband the entire Minneapolis Police Department after George Floyd died in police custody in May.
LET brought you the article in which City Council President Lisa Bender announced to “end our city’s’ toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department.”
Bender said:
“We’re here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd as killed by the Minneapolis Police. In Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.”
We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.
And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together.
We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.
It’s really past due. https://t.co/7WIxUL6W79
— Jeremiah Ellison (@jeremiah4north) June 4, 2020
Those words and the actions of the council has left many Minneapolis Police officers to either seek employment elsewhere (who could blame them) or take medical leave in order to ensure they no longer have to work.
The officers who are leaving and those taking extended leave have left staffing levels severely decreased.
Cathy Spann, a resident of the city, told Fox news:
“Every night in the Jordan neighborhood on any given block from Emerson to Lowry, you hear gunshots every night.”
Spann has a valid concern, she is worried that there will not be any police officers if she ever has to call for help.
She added:
“What do we do? Who do we call if they city council says we’re going to dismantle and defund your police department?”
And she’s not alone.
Spann is one of eight citizens of the city and community leaders who have decided they need to fight to ensure their police department stays where it is in order to ensure public safety.
This group has recently filed a lawsuit, suing the Mayor and members of council under the grounds that current police staffing are below what is required by the city charter.
The city charter requires the Minneapolis Police Department maintain a specific number of officers based upon the population of the city. As of now, that amount required by charter is in the neighborhood of 730 officers, according to Fox News.
Current positions are showing they have 856 sworn positions on the books, but that does not mean they have that many officers that are working.
Currently, the union for the police officers, The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, alleges their current sworn number is at 740 since there are 66 currently out of service due to some type of leave. The union warns that there are several additional officers that are trying to leave the agency.
Ron Meuser, of Meuser, Yackley, and Rowland Law Firm stated:
“Since June 1, we’ve been retained by over 175 Minneapolis police officers to pursue worker’s compensation and PERA duty disability claims.”
“Following the George Floyd incident, unfortunately it became too much,” Attorney Ron Meuser said on behalf of the Minneapolis officers. https://t.co/5QpYky8FMM
— REVOLT TV (@revolttv) July 11, 2020
Meuser says that many of the officers seeking disability are a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, alluding that the disorder has been caused by the riots and anti-cop sentiment.
Meuser added:
“We’ve never seen anything like what we’re seeing today in terms of the sheer numbers of first responders seeking to leave their careers due to physical and mental disabilities.”
Citizens fear that the overall number of officers could be reduced by roughly 100 more, as reported by Mayor Jacob Frey.
Frey announced this month that he expected at least 100 officers to leave the agency by years end and there is no intention to hire replacements, that would be even if someone wanted to be employed there, which is doubtful.
Fox News interviewed Ron Meuser who explained that officers need to be diagnosed for #PTSD by 2 psychiatrists before they start the application for permanent disability. https://t.co/3wV7SgOX1l #minneapolispolice
— Meuser, Yackley & Rowland & Rowland, P.A. (@MeuserLawOffice) August 6, 2020
Frey said that the city has enacted a hiring freeze which ensures that those officers who are lost will not be replaced. Instead of working toward replenishing the police force, they are using those funds to go toward areas that are designed, in their minds, to replace police officers.
Spann is concerned how this will effect public safety overall with the drastic loss in police staffing. She said, “We got to try harder to come together because this right here we’re going to destroy this city.”
Father of teen killed near Seattle’s ‘autonomous zone’ files $3 billion in claims: ‘Suing them all’
SEATTLE, WA – Politicians allowed a group of violent anarchists to take over a 6-block area of Seattle.
Some called it the CHOP, others, the CHAZ. Whatever they called it, the area was a haven for lawlessness.
The leaders blocked off the streets. They prevented people from walking through the area if they didn’t want them there.
They extorted business owners for “safety”. The terrorized residents. People were brutally attacked.
Some lost their lives. One of those people was Lorenzo Anderson, a 19-year-old black man.
And the politician’s allowed it to happen. Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, said that the zone was patriotic. She said that “it could be the summer of love.”
Tell that to Horace Anderson. He is Lorenzo’s father.
Mr. Anderson is suing the city of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington for $1B each. He is seeking $3B total. His attorney has filed wrongful death claims against each of the entities.
“We don’t exactly know where blame lies so we’re putting all the entities on notice and will begin the discovery process and flush out justice,” attorney Evan M. Oshan, told The Seattle Times.
The Associated Press reported that Anderson’s mother, Donnitta Sinclair Martin is also filing a suit against the city for an undisclosed amount.
Her claim was based on the belief that officials allowed the zone to be created and that police and fire officials failed to protect or medically assist her son.
Keep in mind, responding officers were prevented from entering the area by the crowds of people.
Some told officers that Anderson had already been transported to the hospital, where he died. After the 911 call, paramedics were staged nearby, but also could not enter the dangerous area until police had it secured.
The city’s Department of Finance and Administrative Service, along with the county Department of Executive Services have acknowledged receipt of the claims filed by Horace Anderson, but refused to comment, citing policies regarding comments on pending claims.
Washington’s Department of Enterprise Services said they have not received anything as of yet.
The autonomous zone where Lorenzo was killed was founded as part of the Black Lives Matter protests that started after the death of George Floyd. Two of the central themes of those protests have been “defunding the police” and “Democrats love us, Trump is evil.”
Ironically, Anderson received a call from the President.
“Incredibly, Donald Trump called me. The President of the United States called me and talked to me today. He gave his condolences, and me, I’m not a political guy. I told him, ‘Nobody likes you.’ I’m real. But I will tell you on this camera, Donald Trump called me and he didn’t have to call me.”
He had not heard from the mayor or the governor after his son’s death.
“It’s like they didn’t care, it didn’t matter. I haven’t heard from the mayor, from the police department. No city. Nobody.”
Here is the latest that we had reported on Anderson’s death and the pursuit of the suspect who allegedly fled the state.
SEATTLE, WA –He’s accused of murdering someone in the CHOP / CHAZ zone. Now police know who he is… they just don’t know where to find him.
Police have identified and charged a suspect in the murder of 19-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson, who was one of the people murder in Seattle’s CHOP/CHAZ while it was in full swing. However, police have still not apprehended the suspect in question.
New details:
Murder charges filed against teen (Marcel Levon Long) – in fatal shooting inside the #CHOP
Prosecutors approve a warrant for $2 million for Long.https://t.co/WvGBhVPkSF#KOMONews #seattleprotests pic.twitter.com/wd8n16LRSy— Ryan Yamamoto KOMO (@YamsTV) August 6, 2020
Police say that 18-year-old Marcel Levon Long is the man responsible for killing Anderson on June 20th while the unchecked CHAZ/CHOP was still ongoing in Seattle. Authorities apparently likened Long as a suspect one day after the shooting, but have been unable to catch up with him since the identification of him as a person of interest.
Now police have officially charged the suspected and have reason to believe that he has fled the state to avoid arrest and prosecution.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office stated that they have high-quality video surveillance of what appears to be the moments before Long gunned down the 19-year-old near Cal Anderson Park.
Police say that Long produced a handgun after an interaction with Anderson and began following the victim while he tried to walk away from whatever confrontation was ongoing.
Investigators believe there may have been a longstanding feud of sorts between the suspect and the victim, with Long catching up with Anderson and allegedly getting into a fist fight with him and later firing his gun twice at the victim.
Charges have been filed against Marcel Levon Long for allegedly murdering Lorenzo Anderson in the CHOP
It’s worth noting that Kshama Sawant blamed the violence in the CHOP on white supremacists.https://t.co/hTENhJtqsa
— special agent viti (@selfdeclaredref) August 6, 2020
Unsurprisingly, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant went immediately for pegging “right-wing hate & violence” as being responsible for the murder of Anderson. Based upon the suspect at-large, that theory seems to be debunked.
Right-wing hate & violence has grown dramatically with Donald Trump. If this killing turns out to be a right-wing attack, Trump bears direct responsibility. He has fomented reactionary hatred specifically against the CHOP, even threatened to send militaryhttps://t.co/MZnxGPftFx
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) June 20, 2020
Law Enforcement Today has been following the details on this investigation for some time. Here’s our previous report as the investigation was still developing.
_
In the weeks following the murder of 19-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr., a grieving father was left with more questions than answers – and he’s not even received a single word or condolence from the very city’s mayor that allowed CHOP to run amok which led to a young man being killed.
The father of Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr., a 19-year-old shot and killed in Seattle in a police-free zone formed amid protests over police killing of George Floyd, says he got a condolence call from Trump yesterday.https://t.co/d7UUef23df
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 3, 2020
Yet, President Donald Trump personally reached out to this grieving father on July 2nd – on the day that father buried his son.
The 50-year-old father, Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr., stated the following about the interaction with the president:
“Incredibly, Donald Trump called me. The President of the United States called me today. He gave his condolences, and me, I’m not a political guy. I told him, ‘Nobody like you.’ I’m real. Donald Trump called me and he didn’t have to call me.”
Hundreds were said to have gathered during the services held in Kent, Washington on July 2nd. The father of the slain young man described the pain he’s be experiencing while coping with the loss of his son:
“I haven’t been able to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night. I go look for him. He ain’t there.”
Horace Lorenzo Anderson, Jr. left behind his father, Horace Lorenzo Anderson, Sr. Remember his sleepless face, his tears, and his pleas that PEACE replace anger, division, and violence. No father should have to bury his son. 🙏Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images pic.twitter.com/EJ0d6FwYnA
— Kyrie Remark (@KyrieRemark) July 1, 2020
Anderson Jr. was shot dead on June 20th, yet the CHOP area in Seattle where he was killed was virtually left undisturbed for weeks after. When the shooting occurred, neither police nor paramedics responded to the area, citing concerns over the occupants present at the time.
Young Anderson’s father was deeply troubled at how his son was simply hauled off by those present at CHOP, who delivered him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead:
“My son, he needed help. And they shouldn’t be picking kids up and throwing them in their trunk and taking them to the hospital. The paramedics should have been there. The police should have been there.”
During an appearance on Fox New’s show Hannity on July 1st, Anderson Sr. commented on how there wasn’t any communication from officials about his son’s murder in the weeks that followed:
“It’s like they didn’t care, it didn’t matter. I haven’t heard from the mayor from the police department. No city. Nobody.”
This is absolutely heartbreaking and one of the most powerful interviews I’ve seen. I’ll not forget Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr. and his son, Jr. This man didn’t get a briefing. He has to bury his son who died in the streets of America as a civilian in Seattle. Life is treasure.🙏 pic.twitter.com/BrHLULXS9M
— Bonnie Chambers (@BonnieC919) July 2, 2020
The victim’s cousin, 19-year-old Abrionna Anderson, said the following about her cousin during the services held on July 2nd:
“I have no other friends like that, honestly. Every day we were together. My home was his second home and it’s so heartbreaking to me.”
To date, there have been no arrests made with regard to the murder of Anderson Jr., with no indication if there are any suspects or persons of interest with the case.
While the CHOP area has been cleared out since the murder last month, it’s unclear how much evidence was gathered or preserved following the young man’s death.
The existence of the CHOP/CHAZ zone should have never gone on as long as it did, while Mayor Durkan described it as the “summer of love” on June 11th, a father had to watch a situation go unchecked for nearly two weeks after his son was murdered.
We at Law Enforcement Today would like to extend our prayers to this father. No father should have to lose their son like this, but to be kept in the dark without so much as a call from officials for nearly weeks is simply abhorrent.
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