Dayton calls for United States investigation into police

He said of the footage taken from one of the cameras at the scene where 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot in the head during a scuffle with two Minneapolis police officers November 15, sparking more than a week of protests.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who police union officials accused of not publicly backing officers, said on Saturday that the force would continue to do its best to “to protect neighbors and protesters from violent elements who are out only to do harm”.

Protesters have been calling for the release of videos of the incident ever since, but authorities say there is footage from multiple sources and that making the recordings public would compromise their investigations.

Authorities have said there was no video of the shooting from police dashboard or body cameras, but investigators are reviewing video from business and security cameras in the area, as well as witnesses’ cell phones.

“I will urge that the tapes be provided to the family and released to the public, as soon as doing so will not jeopardize the Department of Justice’s investigation”, Dayton said in a news release. A police union official contended Clark was trying to grab an officer’s gun when he was shot.

Authorities say there was a scuffle and Clark tried to reach for an officer’s firearm, but some witnesses say Clark didn’t struggle and was handcuffed. He defended his decision to view it because as governor, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is one of the agencies investigating the shooting, answers to him.

Dayton says he described the “inconclusiveness” of the video to Clark’s family during a weekend meeting.

“It is just a very brief fragment where Mr. Clark and one of the officers encounter each other and then they disappear from sight”, Dayton said.

“I gave them my oath and my word of honor, there’s nothing in there that can provide any confirmation of this view that we had officers who acted as some allege they did”, the governor said.

“We need to know exactly what happened”, Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau said. Black Lives Matter media contact Miski Noor told The Star Tribune “a group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights”.

Kenya McKnight, a cousin of Clark, says Clark’s funeral will be Wednesday at Shiloh Temple global Ministries in north Minneapolis.

A Clark family member asked that there be no protest on the day of the funeral because the family does not want the service to be political. We are committed to having representatives present and on the ground throughout the length of the occupation and we encourage continued food donations, support, and community presence in solidarity with a Northside community that is in pain and has suffered for far too long under the weight of oppression. The protesters are demanding the release of all video footage which could shed light on the incident. Eventually, the three people left the crowd and began walking down the street, and a few protesters followed.

Dan Herbert, a lawyer for Van Dyke, said his client believed the shooting was justified because he feared for the safety of himself and his colleagues. “You see this apparent racism by police departments throughout the United States”, said James Morris, editor of America-Hijacked.com in a Monday interview with Press TV.