Fired City Manager Defends His Call for Due Process for Brooklyn Center Cop

Comment by Jim Campbell

April 13th, 2021

It seems highly probable that the city center officer who spoke his mind about due process will be vindicated by an expensive law suit surely to follow.

This represents that those who live in cities run by fools who have no understanding of the U.S. Constitution, it might be time to move to a different place or vote them all out of office.

The National Review

Ryan Mills

April 13, 2021

The now former city manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, who was fired Monday after suggesting that an officer who shot and killed a young black man during a traffic stop deserves due process, says he was not calling for a drawn-out investigation before deciding whether or not to fire the officer, but simply for the city to “take enough time to consider the facts.”

Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via Getty

A Minnesota city was gripped by protests for a second night in a row as officials released the name of the white cop who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop—apparently after she mistook her handgun for a taser.

Officer Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, was identified as the person who fired a bullet into 20-year-old Daunte Wright’s chest.

[Damn, she only looks about 26 years of age.]

Demonstrators flouted a curfew Monday to take to the streets and demand Potter be fired and charged.

She has been placed on “standard administrative leave,” according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

Evidence that government at any level can be dangerous to ones career aspirations.

Curt Boganey, who’s worked for the city of Brooklyn Center since 2003 – including 15 years as city manager – said the process of terminating an officer “fundamentally requires fairness.”

“What I was simply saying is that everyone is entitled to an examination of the facts before making a determination,” Boganey said in a brief telephone interview with National Review on Tuesday morning. “Sometimes that can be in a relatively short order.”

“I wasn’t even arguing that the information that we have is insufficient,” he said. “I was just simply saying that every officer is entitled to due process.”

During an emergency meeting Monday, the Brooklyn Center City Council voted to remove Boganey from his job and turn authority over the police department to Mayor Mike Elliott.

The council’s decision came after a press conference – attended by not only the press but by community activists – about the death of Daunte Wright, 20.

“Let me be very clear, my position is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in our profession,” Elliott said. “And so, I do fully support releasing the officer of her duties.”

But when Boganey took the podium and was confronted by activists calling for Potter to be fired, he disappointed them.

“All employees working for the city of Brooklyn City are entitled to due process,” he said, as is Potter.

“Folks that were in the room, they were asking me to make a judgement at the moment,” Boganey told National Review.

“In my mind, that would not have been appropriate, because even with the facts that we have, we don’t have all the facts.”

Boganey said he wasn’t talking about contractual obligations related to the police department’s collective bargaining agreement. He was simply calling for weighing all the evidence.

“We have to take enough time to consider the facts before making a decision,” Boganey said.

“We want to take enough time to gather as much relevant information as we can before making a decision.”

“He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly,” Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson said, according to the Star Tribune. “I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level.”

Ron Meuser Jr., a Minnesota-based lawyer who specializes in representing police officers in civil cases involving workers compensation and disability, said discipline for Potter – if she hadn’t resigned – would have been guided by the police department’s collective bargaining agreement.

He said the mayor’s comments at the press conference, supporting Potter’s firing, could have been a liability for the city.

“It’s clear that the mayor was, at least in my opinion, simply trying to placate the mob,” he said.

After the shooting, demonstrators took the streets of Brooklyn Center and nearby Minneapolis, and vandalized and looted several businesses.

Demonstrators clashed again with police on Monday night, leading to about 40 arrests, according to the Star Tribune.

THE END