Operation Metro Surge may be coming to an end, but fighting continues outside the Whipple Building. On Sunday, 34 people were cited and six were arrested following a protest.
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Questions arose Monday about the use of force at the event, centering on an Instagram video from the north parking lot. The video has sparked debate about law enforcement’s commitment to protesters.
“I share the good, the bad and the ugly,” said Darnell Edwards, who posts several videos on his Instagram account. On Sunday morning, he posted video from the north lot showing law enforcement, many in Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department uniforms, taking shields from protesters and throwing them to the ground.
“It was a lot. It was aggressive,” Edwards said. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department was asked if deputies followed protocol or if tactics had changed. They issued a statement that said: “On Sunday, our officers issued dispersal orders at an unlawful assembly outside the Whipple Building after individuals blocked roads, blocked access to local businesses, threw glass into the street, and threw rocks, ice chips, and water bottles at law enforcement, creating a serious danger to public safety.”
Edwards claims the attack was unilateral. “With this video there was nothing but words. In this situation all they were doing was walking down a public sidewalk with shields and signs,” he said.
Retired Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek has watched the video several times. “Any time you have to get down and dirty with someone, it never turns out well,” he said, emphasizing that there could be another angle not shown in the video.
“We only saw the interaction itself; we didn’t see what precipitated the interaction,” he said.
The department’s statement also noted that all use-of-force incidents are documented and reviewed internally.
