We’ve reported how the officials in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota seem to be going over the slide in reaction to the shooting of Daunte Wright and to appease the activists who were protesting and those who were rioting in the town.
The facts right now appear to indicate that the shooting was a tragic mistake with Daunte Wright being shot while fleeing arrest, with the officer who shot him thinking she was pulling a taser, but then using her firearm. That was what the police chief said and the video evidence so far seems to support that claim.
The mayor immediately wanted to fire the officer, but the city manager Curt Boganey said that they had to afford her due process. So the city council fired the city manager and made the mayor in charge of the police department. City Council member Kris Lawrence-Anderson admitted that Boganey was doing a great job but she voted to fire the city manager because she was afraid of “repercussions on a personal level” (translation: she thought the rioters would come to her home).
The mayor also said that he thought that cops didn’t need guns all the time when they made traffic stops; that somehow they should just know when they might need them. The city council also passed a resolution against using crowd control measures including tear gas, rubber bullets, or kettling. So that city is clearly going to get lit up.
It’s been a complete mess and there aren’t a lot of people who have performed well in this case.
Except the city manager.
While the mayor and the council seemed to be tossing aside all principle, in a vain effort to appease the rioters, Curt Boganey stood up for due process.
Brooklyn Center, MN, City Manager Curt Boganey, who has control over police department personnel, received some pushback after these comments:
“All employees … are entitled to due process with respect to discipline.” pic.twitter.com/gAvGYkS0pP
— The Recount (@therecount) April 12, 2021
So, as noted above, the mayor had the city council fire the city manager and he took over the management of the police department. Then the officer involved and the police chief resigned. Their resignations have not yet been accepted, according to CNN.
All employees working for the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process with respect to discipline,” Boganey said. “This employee will receive due process and that’s really all that I can say today.”
When asked if he personally felt the officer should be fired, Boganey reiterated his stance.
“If I were to answer that question, I’d be contradicting what I said a moment ago — which is to say that all employees are entitled to due process, and after that due process, discipline will be determined,” Boganey said. “If I were to say anything else, I would actually be contradicting the idea of due process.”
It isn’t about the cop per se — whether the cop was right or wrong — but affording someone that proper process whoever it is and whatever the situation. That’s what we’re supposed to be about (in addition to the fact that that’s probably required by their city contracts). It doesn’t mean she gets off, it means there’s an investigation and you let justice take its course.
Boganey stood, despite the pressure from the mayor and despite the pressure from the activists, because it was the right thing to do. He lost his job over standing up for that right, for due process.
“I lost my job, but I still have my integrity,” former City Manager Curt Boganey told Fox News in a statement, Tucker Carlson revealed on his Tuesday night show. They invited him to be on air but he turned it down because he was “hesitant about making any media appearances,” the Daily Caller said. That makes me think all the more of him.
If we’re not standing for that concept, what are we about anymore as a country?
Many leaders have again decided that due process is a liability. After Curt Boganey called for due process for the officer, he was fired. Due process is not a dirty word or a dog whistle… https://t.co/bhOXQRITli
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 13, 2021
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