Star Tribune
Minneapolis cop beat man who was then treated as the aggressor
A 29-year-old man is alleging in a lawsuit that he was beaten and choked into unconsciousness by a Minneapolis police officer during unrest on Nicollet Mall, then unsuccessfully prosecuted after being falsely painted as the aggressor.
Asante J. Simmons sued former officer Alexander V. Brown and the city of Minneapolis in U.S. District Court on Monday contending that his civil rights were violated during an upheaval on Aug. 26, 2020 ignited by false rumors that a man who shot and killed himself had been shot by police.
Simmons alleges in the lawsuit that he was exiting a Foot Locker shoe store that was being ransacked when Brown tackled him into an interior hall, hitting him in the head with a baton and punching him.
Brown then put Simmons in a chokehold while on top of him and “continued to choke Mr. Simmons until he lost consciousness,” the suit reads, pointing out that such a hold violated Minneapolis Police Department policy at the time.
Even while Simmons remained unconscious, the suit continues, Brown knelt on him while putting on handcuffs.
The Minneapolis city attorney’s office declined comment Tuesday. Messages were also left with Brown, city officials and the Police Department seeking a response.
Simmons was arrested and jailed as Brown prepared what the suit described as a “police report containing a fictitious narrative with multiple false allegations in an attempt to justify his needless use of deadly force,” among them that Simmons pushed the officer to the ground, hit him in the head, fought back and fled the scene.
Brown wrote in his report that he feared for his life. “I decided to end the fight [with] an unconscious neck restraint,” he wrote, according to the suit.
Simmons was charged two days later with third-degree assault and burglary and was jailed for over a month. Charges were dismissed nearly eight months later, which the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office explained to the court was in the “interests of justice.”
In a motion to the District Court ahead of the case’s dismissal, defense attorney Jordan Kushner pointed out that “this incident occurred slightly after Officer Brown’s Minneapolis police officer colleagues had murdered George Floyd on video by cutting off his oxygen.”
Simmons suffered “significant physical and mental injuries” including diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder,” the suit continues. For his injuries, emotional distress and financial losses, Simmons is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
The suit alleges that the city knew of Brown’s history of excessive force. In 2019, he was fired for punching a suspect in the face while the man was on his back and handcuffed. But Brown appealed, and his punishment was reduced to a two-week suspension without pay. He was never charged with a crime and left the department with a $175,000 worker’s compensation settlement reached in November 2021, the suit added.
The dramatic events of Aug. 26, 2020, began in the afternoon, when police responded to a report of a shooting at Ramp A in the area of N. 10th Street and Currie Avenue. Floyd had been killed three months earlier, setting off days of unrest.
Eddie George Gordon, 61, died at the scene of the shooting. Gordon had been in a dispute with a woman and the suspect, Eddie Frank Sole Jr., 38, who fired the fatal shot while walking on Nicollet Mall.
Tension between police and and a swelling crowd on Nicollet Mall grew, as some people begin smashing windows while police attempted to disperse the crowd with chemical irritants. Looters ran through the downtown Target, Nordstrom Rack and other stores.
Simmons was among more than 130 people who were arrested that day.
Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.
At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.
A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.
Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.
“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.
During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.
After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.
Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.
Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.
Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”
Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.
”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”
Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”
Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”
The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.
In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”
”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.
