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Pioneer Press
17 September 2009

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Minneapolis Police Department,

Minneapolis police union assai

Minneapolis policeman Jason Andersen had become "a high-profile officer" and was singled out for firing even though other officers had been accused � and even convicted � of worse violations than the domestic assault charge he once faced, an attorney for the Minneapolis Police Federation said Thursday.

"This case represents one more situation where the administration singles out certain officers for unjustly harsh treatment," Ann Walther said. She also said there wasn't enough evidence in the case "to justify any discipline, let alone termination."

Andersen, cleared of wrongdoing by a federal jury this spring in a wrongful-death case stemming from his 2006 shooting of Fong Lee, was fired by Police Chief Timothy Dolan on Wednesday. Two weeks earlier, a prosecutor had dismissed a misdemeanor domestic assault charge filed against him after an argument with his girlfriend in June.

The prosecutor said he dropped the case because there wasn't enough admissible evidence to prove Andersen was guilty.

Andersen, a second-generation cop who joined the Minneapolis Police Department in August 2005, has declined interviews. But in an e-mail to the Pioneer Press, he questioned the fairness of how the department had treated him.

"I have been awarded three medals, over 50 letters of commendation, an Officer-of-the-Month Award, am a senior Taser instructor, a ground fighting instructor, a field training officer, an in-custody death instructor and a fitness instructor, so I ask myself: Why is this fair to me, when I have done so much for this department and always given everything 100 percent?" he wrote.
Walther said the union will try to get Andersen his job back and will take the case to arbitration.

Walther, two other attorneys and a police federation official condemned the firing at a news conference Thursday.

Asked how officers wound up getting singled out, Walther said nobody really knew.

Dolan later issued a statement saying that while he couldn't discuss the specifics of the case, "we are not going to tolerate those who will tarnish our reputations."

Dolan's written statement said that while privacy laws prevented him from discussing the case, "There is some misinformation circulating regarding the Department's disciplinary process and the credibility of our Internal Affairs."

The chief's statement did not specify the "misinformation," and a police spokesman did not immediately return a call for clarification. Dolan said his department has "raised the bar in expectations for conduct" and that the rate of terminations and resignations has nearly tripled under his leadership compared with previous administrations.

Sgts. Richard Krebs and Mark Montgomery of the department's Internal Affairs Unit arrived at Andersen's home in Big Lake late Wednesday afternoon to hand-deliver the one-page termination form letter as well as the officer's belongings from his locker at the Fourth Precinct, where he had been assigned.

The officer had been on paid suspension since his arrest on the domestic assault charge.

According to police records, Andersen was fired for misconduct described as a violation of the city's Civil Service Commission Section 11.03, Subdivision B-18. That subdivision says a city employee can be disciplined for "Violation of department rules, policies, procedures or City ordinance."

In particular, Andersen was accused of violating Section 5-102 of the department's policy and procedure manual. That section is the police force's single-paragraph Code of Ethics, which reads:

"All sworn and civilian members of the department shall conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner at all times and not engage in any on- or off-duty conduct that would tarnish or offend the ethical standards of the department. Employees shall abide by the City's Ethics in Government Policy, Chapter 15."

"It's an extremely broad policy," Walther said of the provision. "It's a catchall if they can't get you for anything else."

Andersen said he wasn't told what he'd done that violated the code of ethics. "I've not done anything," he said.

Big Lake police arrested the officer June 14 following an argument at his home. Andersen's former wife had called a Big Lake police officer, and according to a later incident report, she said Andersen had assaulted his girlfriend, identified as Angela Lynn Nicholas, 29, of Howard Lake.

Andersen and Nicholas were subsequently charged with misdemeanor domestic assault.

Sherburne County prosecutors soon dropped the charge against Nicholas. She gave a statement to Andersen's attorney � who turned it over to prosecutors � in which she claimed the police reports "exaggerated things that never even happened."

She also said that police "pressured me to do and say things I didn't want to do or say" and that she had no intention of testifying against Andersen at trial.

Andersen had been on the force 11 months when he was involved in the 2006 shooting of Fong Lee, an incident that angered many in the Hmong community.

The shooting occurred during a foot chase, and Andersen claimed that the 19-year-old Minneapolis man was holding a pistol in his right hand and had started raising his hand as if to shoot.

The officer's first shot missed, but the next eight hit Fong Lee. He died at the scene.

Fong Lee's family claimed the teen was unarmed and that he posed no threat to Andersen. At the trial of a wrongful-death suit, attorneys for the family presented stills from a surveillance video that caught the last seconds of the chase, with no obvious gun or dark object visible in the teen's hand.

A gun was found a few feet from Fong Lee's body, but it lacked fingerprints and had no blood spatter, although the gunshot wounds bled profusely. Lawyers for the family said the evidence suggested police planted the gun after the shooting.

But lawyers for Andersen and the city argued that Andersen feared for his life and that the use of deadly force was justified. An internal affairs investigation and a Hennepin County grand jury had earlier cleared the officer.

Jurors in the wrongful-death case found Andersen had not used excessive force. Fong Lee's family is appealing the case.

Walther, the attorney for the police federation, said Andersen had done nothing wrong in either the shooting or domestic assault case.

"I have reviewed the entire internal affairs file and there is no evidence to justify any discipline, let alone termination," she said.

In his statement, Dolan said, "I believe we have been fair."

He said that while nobody in the department "enjoys" disciplining officers, "we know that in order for us to bring pride to the Minneapolis Police patch, we cannot tolerate misbehavior that taints us all."

Others said the firing was welcome news.

TakeAction Minnesota, a grass-roots organizing group, issued a statement saying the Hmong community was "relieved" Andersen had been fired.

"The firing of officer Andersen further supports our feelings that he wrongfully killed Fong Lee on July 22, 2006," the group said.

Michael Padden, an attorney who represented Fong Lee's family in the wrongful death suit in U.S. District Court, said the family believed the officer should have been fired long ago.

"But I would add that that was not the purpose of this lawsuit, to get him terminated," he said.

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Pioneer Press17 September 2009

Minneapolis police union assai

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Pioneer Press
17 September 2009