Jamar Clark

On Wednesday, it was announced by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman that the two Minneapolis police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, would not be charged in Clark's death from November of last year.  The reaction to the decision has been predictable.  The African American community, and it's supporters, feel as if an injustice has occurred, important evidence was overlooked, and some have claimed a full blown coverup/conspiracy by Freeman and police. The pro-Ringgenberg and Schwarze side has taken Freeman's decision as a full acquittal, brow beating anyone who accused the two officers of any wrong doing, and insisting "Jamar Clark got what he deserved."  The reality:  I doubt we'll ever know the truth.

Let me start with two things.  First, the VAST majority of police officers are absolutely wonderful people; brave, honest, and deserving of our respect for the hard job they preform day in and day out.  There are bad police officers, just like there are bad doctors, plumbers and radio hosts.  While there are times I get frustrated by police for their blind allegiance to fellow officers, even when its clearly not deserved, that shouldn't distort the reality; most law enforcement personnel are excellent people.

Second, in Minnesota it's almost impossible to prosecute a police officer for murder in the death of a suspect.  The law not only gives the officer the benefit of the doubt, but the burden of proof needed for prosecutors to bring a case makes a murder conviction all but impossible.  You can have indisputable evidence of murder by a police officer, but the way the laws are written, the trial's outcome would still be in question.

Mike Freeman was in a very difficult position, and where I do agree with some of his work, I have big problems with other parts of it.  This case landed on his desk with massive public outcry.  Citizens were calling for answers, as reports from numerous eyewitnesses on the scene placed Jamar Clark in handcuffs, and on the ground, at the time of the shooting.  If the eyewitnesses were correct, this was an execution, one of the few times a murder charge could be filed.

Freeman focused on the handcuffs.  If Clark's hands were in cuffs, there'd be tell tale bruising on his wrists from the shooting.  There wasn't.  A pair of open hand cuffs were found on the ground near the body with Clark's blood only on one side of them, leading Freeman's office to deduce the cuffs were not on him at the time of the shooting itself, something forensic testing also validated.  Freeman then interviewed the officers and eyewitnesses.  As is often the case, the initial reports of eyewitnesses, insisting Clark was handcuffed and on the ground when shot, started unraveling as they themselves shared differing versions of the events from that evening.  Some said Clark wasn't handcuffed, some said the cuffs were on one wrist, some said it was on both wrists and his hands were in the front, some his hands were cuffed behind him.  It became clear there was no physical evidence the handcuffs were on Clark, and the contradictory statements from eyewitnesses made any prosecution of the officers near impossible.  When Freeman referred to the standard of law, he was really saying, "there isn't enough evidence to press charges."

But from this point on, things get more complicated.  I have some problems with Freeman's actions and decisions.  It seems when he came to the conclusion he wasn't going to press charges, he adopted an advocacy role for Ringgenberg, Schwarze and the Minneapolis police.  In my opinion, he tried to help make Clark more of a villain, and ignored a major sticking point in the officer's story.

Here's what we know happened that night:

• The two officers respond to a call by paramedics of an assault suspect being on the scene.  Ringgenberg and Schwarze respond.
• The two confront Jamar Clark, who they say was acting strangely, Clark refused to remove his hands from his pockets.
• Clark was unarmed, but that fact is unknown to the officers at the time they responded.
• Ringgenberg and Schwarze, attempt to put handcuffs on Clark, who is actively resisting them. 
• Ringgenberg attempts to perform a 'takedown' maneuver to get Clark onto the ground.  He fails horribly, ending up with Clark on his back, on the ground, and Ringgenberg on top of him, mostly with his back to Clark.
• Officer Ringgenberg insists Clark was grabbing his gun, even though he had no clear view of Clark's hands.  He insists he "felt" Clark's hand on the weapon.  Schwarze apparently was unable to see where Clark's hands were, due to Ringgenberg being on top of him.  
• Ringgenberg, insisting Clark's hand was firmly on his weapon, tells Schwarze "He's got my gun" and to "shoot him!"
• Schwarze, feeling he has no other option, places his gun to Clark's face, telling Clark to "let go, or I'm going to shoot you."
• Both Ringgenberg and Schwarze insist Clark next says, "I'm ready to die."  NO ONE else hears this, outside of the two officers.
• Schwarze shoots, but the gun misfires,  He pulls the trigger again and kills Jamar Clark
• DNA, but no fingerprints or blood, are found on Ringgenberg's weapon and duty belt.
• From the time of arrival to the time of Clark's death is 61 seconds.

Let's start with Freeman including the "I'm ready to die" line in his report.  Not only does no one else hear Clark say these words, making this statement hearsay by the officers, officers who would potentially face charges for unjustified murder, it also acts as a validation for the officers final act of shooting Clark.  This line is a bombshell, turning what was a man struggling with officers while resisting arrest, to a deranged killer bent on a murder spree.  Without that line, these two officers administered the death penalty, primarily, for resisting arrest.

The line being included in the final report acts as scapegoat butchery on Clark.  It's not as egregious as Ferguson, MO officer Darren Wilson describing Michael Brown as a "demon," a line clearly meant to make any response by Wilson seem justified, but the line "I'm ready to die" is intended to bring Jamar Clark's mental state into the discussion, with the public being lead to believe, with zero mental evaluations performed, he was unstable.  I think any quotes these two officers attribute to Clark, with no third party confirmation, should be taken lightly at best, but to allow them to become instant psychologists, using those four words to hide behind, by draping the victim in a 'veil of insanity,' is inexcusable; character assassination after the fact.

There are some issues Jamar Clark supporter's have latched onto as evidence of wrongdoing in the case.  To the people who are pointing to certain inconsistencies (the story from the female friend RayAnn Hayes, Freeman supposedly ignoring eyewitness testimony, and a lack of any deviation in the stories told by law enforcement on the scene), none of those will make a murder charge stick.  They're either irrelevant to the outcome, or would be easily knocked down on cross examination.  

Mike Freeman, in his dispelling of the handcuffed execution allegations, did reveal potential of officer wrongdoing in the shooting, but he seems to have not followed up on his own lead.

Officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze made some mistakes.  There is no way an unarmed man is killed in 61 seconds unless there are plenty of mistakes being made.  They did not approach Jamar Clark in a safe manner for both them and Clark.  They did not really engage the suspect in conversation before attempting to handcuff him.  When they did attempt to handcuff the man, both officers seemed to go about it recklessly.  The biggest mistake of all was Ringgenberg's attempted take down of Clark, a takedown which was performed incompetently, a mistake which made shooting Clark an unfortunate potential outcome.  And what police training manual tells an officer to yell "shoot him, shoot him, shoot him" within 60 seconds of arriving on the scene?

Something bothered me about Officer Ringgenberg's duty belt and his service weapon.  Where were the fingerprints?  DNA evidence was found, but no fingerprints.  Wouldn't there be something if Clark had his hand firmly on the weapon; a print, a partial, a smudged fingerprint on the gun, or on the duty belt.  To my knowledge, the only evidence on the gun and duty belt was DNA evidence, something which I presume could also be transferred to the gun and duty belt by Officer Ringgenberg wiggling back and forth over Clark's stomach.  Also, the DNA on the duty belt and gun was NOT blood, just DNA evidence.  If there was blood on one side of the handcuffs, and if Clark's hands were allegedly all over the duty belt and weapon, shouldn't there be some blood residue there too?  I wasn't there, and I didn't see what happened, but that's the point.  No one saw Clark's hand on the gun.  Officer Ringgenberg says he felt the hand on the weapon, but did not see his hand on it.  That's important.

I've come up with three potential theories:

#1 - What happened is what Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman presented.  When Ringgenberg was on top of Clark, Clark attempted to take the gun from Officer Ringgenberg, leaving Officer Schwarze no other option.

#2 - When Officer Ringgenberg fell on top of Clark, his duty belt and weapon got caught up on Clark's clothing, making it seem like Clark was holding the weapon.  When Ringgenberg reached around, he mistakenly, and sincerely, thought Clark's hand was on the weapon, and out of fear for his life, commanded Schwarze to fire.

#3 - After horribly performing the take down, Ringgenberg panicked.  He was embarrassed, jarred and shocked.  Clark was never trying to take the weapon, but Ringgenberg said he was.  Orders to unhand the weapon were ignored because Clark wasn't holding the weapon, but through incompetence, pride, adrenaline or embarrassment, Ringgenberg ordered Schwarze to shoot him.

Scenarios #1 and #2 would both be justified by law.  #3 would be murder, but without any evidence to validate that theory, a defense lawyer could easily argue scenario #1 or #2 happened.  The only person, alive, who knows what really happened is Officer Ringgenberg.  This is why Officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze's claiming Clark's statement of "I'm ready to die" should've never been part of the Freeman presentation.

To those who insist my writing this post is somehow encouraging rioting or a race war, shut up!  Me asking questions is my job.  If I can find holes in the official story, holes which lead to potential murder charges, then sure as hell the people who are responsible for justice being served should be too.  

Officer's Ringgenberg and Schwarze will likely never face any charges.  For the record, I feel as if Officer Schwarze shouldn't.  Officer Ringgenberg?  I hope Ringgenberg will at least be fired for helping to create this unfortunate incident.  Schwarze, and all Minneapolis Police, clearly need more effective training in dealing with similar incidents.  I wish Minneapolis would have more non-lethel options available for the officers on the street.  I wish police had mandatory body cameras for their protection, as well as ours.  I wish police didn't go from arrival on the scene to validating deadly force for an unarmed man in 61 seconds.  I wish the unfair treatment of the African American community would stop.

If you are a supporter of Ringgenberg, you feel this incident was 100% on Clark, that he was mentally unstable, and this was a brave police killing of a dangerous suspect.  You might also think anyone who questions Ringgenberg's actions are anti-police, are inciting violence and should be arrested, even though a reasonable person can easily question his actions, especially the botched takedown which led to the shooting, and the lack of fingerprints and blood evidence on the weapon and duty belt.  

If you are a supporter of Clark, you feel as if this is the latest example of an innocent African American man unfairly targeted and murdered by an assailant wearing a badge.  You might also think anyone who doesn't think the fix is in is in on the fix.  But, as hard as this it for some to admit, if Clark would've removed his hands from his pockets and allowed himself to be handcuffed when initially ordered by police, he'd likely be alive.  I'm not saying that's fair or easy to accept, but it's likely true. 

As far as what happened on the ground with Clark and Ringgenberg last November, we'll never know what the truth really is.