This morning at about 8 am, a series of violent incidents played out throughout Minneapolis, ending with the suspect crashing into another vehicle, killing two adults and seriously injuring a child.
While details are just emerging, there will be no winners in this incident. Innocent people died, innocent people were violently assaulted and carjacked, the police will be second guessed for chasing the suspect, and the city will take yet another hit in terms of its lack of safety.
And, while this is just a (educated) guess, it is more than likely that once we learn of the suspect’s identity, the court and correctional systems will also lose – as it has become too common for similar suspects to have criminal histories that should have resulted in incapacitation and removal from society but didn’t.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara provided the following recap of the incident:
At about 8 am citizens reported a man driving a Ford Explorer recklessly in South Minneapolis. The suspect was driving up on sidewalks, driving into on-coming traffic and speeding. He eventually crashed and then attempted to carjack one vehicle which fled, but then violently carjacked a female at gunpoint and drove off in her Volkswagon Jetta.
The suspect returned to his Ford Explorer to retrieve three dogs inside, and reportedly shot at someone at this time, before fleeing in the Jetta.
Police were able to begin tracking the Jetta and received reports of the suspect driving recklessly in downtown Minneapolis. Police eventually located and began pursuing the suspect in the Jetta as it entered North Minneapolis. The suspect refused to stop and ended up t-boning another car at the intersection of Penn and Highway 55, killing two and injuring a child.
“We have been criticized recently because of all the smash and grabs and stolen cars … for having a pursuit policy that does not allow pursuits in those cases, this result is the reason why we have such stringent policies.
We have to balance the need to apprehend, in this case a dangerous and violent gunman, with the risk that these pursuits pose to the public. So, we limit our pursuits only to those cases where we believe an immediate apprehension is necessary to protect the community from a violent criminal.”
Chief O’Hara
While there are no certainties, it is far less likely the suspect in this case would have felt emboldened to carry out his actions if he had feared a consequential criminal justice system.
Until we get there, the losing will continue.
