Star Tribune
North Branch officers shot woman after repeated orders to drop weapon, waited to render aid
Authorities in North Branch released video of officers’ fatal encounter with a woman shot moments after allegedly pointing an object at police shows that they fired at after she did not respond to multiple orders to drop her weapon, then waited several minutes to come to her aid afterward.
Jamie Ann Crabtree, 36, died on June 27 after North Branch Police Department officers shot her multiple times. Police Chief Dan Meyer said officers helped Crabtree until she died at the scene. According to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, officers Kyle Miller and Duane Southworth shot Crabtree. Miller used pepper ball rounds while Southworth fired his department rifle. Both were put on standard administrative leave as the BCA investigates.
The incident began at around 9:20 p.m. when officers responded to a field near the intersection of 3rd Avenue and Elm Street for a report of a woman who was suicidal, intoxicated, and armed with a handgun. Crabtree’s husband Nicholas Williams said he called 911 after Crabtree left their home with a bottle of alcohol and a handgun in a case. Williams said she had been drinking heavily and mentioned “suicide by cop” before leaving.
Body camera footage shows Crabtree sitting on the ground when Williams and Southworth arrive, commanding her to drop the gun.
“Put the gun down!” the officers yelled before Crabtree can be heard yelling back: “I don’t want to live.”
Williams shouts “pepper ball” before several shots are heard firing from his weapon. A BCA statement says Crabtree appears to point an object at officers, prompting Southworth to shoot his rifle at her.
The BCA says squad car camera video appears to show Crabtree point an object at officers, but North Branch police did not release that footage. Southworth’s body camera shows Crabtree seated in grass moments before he opens fire.
“We want to help, show us your hands!” Southworth yelled afterwards.
“I’m here,” a voice appearing to come from Crabtree says as she lifts her hand. “I can’t breathe.”
After police shot at Crabtree, about 14 minutes passed before officers rendered aid after she did not respond to repeated commands to put her hands up or roll away from the weapon.
Williams said officers waited too long to aid Crabtree. Footage shows that at one point, he approached the scene, repeatedly asking officers “You shot her? ” before they ordered him away. The BCA is still investigating. Agents plan to present their findings to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review after completing their investigation.
Since 2000, police in Minnesota have killed at least 240 people — that includes nine this year and 11 in the past 11 months, according to a Star Tribune database.
Staff writers Paul Walsh and Tim Harlow contributed to this report.
Star Tribune
Sentencing set for Monday morning for a Minnesota man who was drunk and speeding when he hit a woman’s SUV and killed her.
A man with a history of driving drunk received a four-year term Monday for being intoxicated and speeding when he hit a woman’s SUV on a southern Minnesota highway and killed her.
John R. Deleo, 54, of Lake Crystal, Minn., was sentenced in Brown County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash on Aug. 17, 2023, in New Ulm at Hwy. 68 and S. 15th Street that killed 82-year-old Sharon A. Portner, of New Ulm.
With credit for the two days he was in jail after his arrest, Deleo is expected to serve the first 2⅔ years years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
A week ahead of sentencing, defense attorney James Kuettner asked the court to spare his client prison and put him on probation for up to five years.
Kuettner pointed out in his filing that Deleo stayed at the crash scene and attempted “to aid Portner, and he left [her] side only when directed to by law enforcement.”
The attorney also noted that Deleo has been sober since the crash, and therefore, at a particularly low risk for reoffending.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police arrived to find the two damaged vehicles near 15th and S. Broadway streets. Emergency responders took Portner to New Ulm Medical Center, where she died that day.
ROCHESTER – The defense for Shane Roper, the former state trooper charged for his role in a crash that killed Owatonna teenager Olivia Flores, has asked the court to dismiss eight of the nine charges against him.
In a motion filed Oct. 24, Roper’s attorneys said the state has “failed to meet its burden of offering direct evidence tending to demonstrate that [Roper’s] actions, or negligence, were the proximate cause of death or bodily harm.”
Roper, 32, faces nine criminal charges related to the May 18 crash, including felony charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide. Both charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years in jail.
The only charge the defense did not ask to have dismissed is a misdemeanor for careless driving, which carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail.
Among the other requests made to the court, Roper’s defense asked for a change of venue outside of Olmsted County, citing the extensive media coverage of the case. The defense said “jury pools have surely been tainted and a fair trial cannot be had” in the county.
Roper’s attorney, Eric Nelson of Halberg Criminal Defense, also argued that any evidence related to Roper’s prior speeding or traffic incidents should be precluded as evidence in the case.
In the five years leading up to the crash, Roper had been disciplined by the State Patrol on four separate occasions for careless or reckless driving, including a February 2019 crash that injured another officer.
District Judge Christa Daily has not responded to the motions. Roper is scheduled to be back in court Nov. 21 for a pretrial settlement conference.
Star Tribune
Who is comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who insulted Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally?
NEW YORK — Of the nearly 30 speakers who recently warmed up the crowd for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe got the most attention for racist remarks.
”I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said, later including lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jewish and Black people.
The comments have led to condemnation from Democrats and Puerto Rican celebrities, with Ricky Martin sharing a clip of Hinchcliffe’s set, captioned: “This is what they think of us.”
The Trump campaign took the rare step of distancing itself from Hinchcliffe. ”This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
Here’s what to know about Hinchcliffe, his comedic styling and the response to his Madision Square Garden comments.
Hinchcliffe, raised in Youngstown, Ohio, is a stand-up comedian who specializes in the roast style, in which comedians take the podium to needle a celebrity victim with personal and often tasteless jokes. He has written and appeared on eight Comedy Central Roasts, including ones for Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady.
Even fellow comedians aren’t immune. At the Snoop Dogg roast, Hichcliffe made a joke referencing comedian Luenell, who is Black, being on the Underground Railroad. Of the honoree, he said: ”Snoop, you look like the California Raisin that got hooked on heroin.”
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