Star Tribune
Bloomington offers hopeful model for reducing police clashes with people in mental distress
For more than a quarter-century, James Ayers met with some of the most vulnerable residents in Minneapolis. As the former director of Walk-In Counseling Center, a free and anonymous counseling center on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis that is staffed by volunteers, he witnessed the value of accessible mental health services.
“The tendency is to take a policing approach, to correct it without getting into what the hell is going on,” he told me.
It’s also why he and other counselors have praised a Bloomington police pilot program that aims to help residents gain access to counseling services when they call 911 during an emergency. The department has been nationally recognized after hiring two marriage and family therapists to help people address life challenges that may demand a mental health professional rather than a police officer.
“The whole idea is that people generally don’t deal with mental health issues until there is blood on the floor,” Ayers said. “And you can get ahead of the game by providing services as soon as possible when people are asking for it. The whole rationale for a walk-in counseling center is that you’ve gotta make it easy for people to talk. And that’s done by privacy, professionalism, timeliness. What’s going on in Bloomington is a good start.”
When I was a child, a relative of mine endured a mental health crisis outside our church. I was too young to understand the totality of mental health then, but I remember the moment when police arrived. One by one, they surrounded him. I was afraid. He wasn’t harmed but the possibility seemed real.
Every police department — and many have partnered with mental health organizations in recent years — should employ resources to address individuals facing mental health crises, as those situations can quickly deteriorate. Counselors and therapists, Bloomington’s program has shown, may help residents find solutions and avoid those encounters with police. They may also help families and individuals process their collective challenges before they matriculate and lead to violence and damage in their homes and communities.
The complexities and problems in policing here and elsewhere are well-documented. The model in Bloomington is one that could work throughout the Twin Cities, but only if patients’ privacy is protected and not improperly used by police. There is value in independent counseling services, but those services are not always attainable for those who need them most.
In Bloomington, more than 4,000 people are uninsured, according to the department, and the service gives those people access to therapists whom they might not see otherwise because of that barrier. To many, 911 is the universal number to call when there is a serious situation they can’t resolve on their own. That’s a habit we’ve all developed over time. Yet, a call to that number should not always start with a police response. If anything, the presence of counselors allows for nuance and patience in these scenarios, says the Minnesota Counseling Association, the local chapter of the American Counseling Association.
A 36-year-old Alexandria man was sentenced to about four months in jail after pleading guilty to secretly recording employees at a hospital where he previously worked as a custodian.
Corey R. Johns was arrested in May 2023 and charged with one gross misdemeanor count of interfering with privacy. He pleaded guilty in June, and on Monday Douglas County Judge Michelle Clark sentenced Johns to 364 days in jail.
Johns will serve 120 days in the Douglas County Jail and have the remaining 244 days stayed for two years of probation. Clark also ordered Johns to attend a sex offender treatment program. He was ordered not work in a location where women routinely change clothes, possess pornographic material or have unsupervised contact with vulnerable adults or anyone under the age of 18.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Johns, Alexandria police responded to a call at Alomere Health in May 2023 after three female employees found a phone propped up by a shoe and pointed toward the changing area in a locker room. Before police arrived, Johns asked the women to give his phone back to him, the complaint states.
Johns told police he started recording employees in February and had also recorded in a co-ed locker room. At the jail, staff found a pen on Johns that he said was another type of recording device he had used, according to the complaint.
After the arrest, a spokesperson from Alomere Health said Johns was no longer affiliated with the organization.
“The safety and security of our staff has always been of the utmost importance. We are devastated that this has occurred and even the thought of this behavior by anyone is reprehensible,” the spokesperson said in a written statement. “The Alomere Health Human Resources team is working directly with employees who may have been impacted.”
Star Tribune
Nearly 10-year term for man who posted pic of him driving 150 mph before causing fatal wreck
A man has received a nearly 10-year term for documenting himself driving 150 miles per hour and posting his feat on social media moments before he crashed into the rear of another car southeast of St. Cloud and killed a passenger in the other vehicle.
Hunter M. Buckentine, 24, of Avon, Minn., was sentenced Monday in Sherburne County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in connection with the collision about 1:10 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2023, along Hwy. 10 in Clear Lake Township.
With time in jail after his arrest, Buckentine is expected to serve the about 6¼ years of his 9⅔-year term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Buckentine was heading west on Hwy. 10 near SE. 97th Street in his Infiniti Q50 and struck a Chevy Cobalt from behind, according to the State Patrol. The impact sent the Cobalt into a ditch to the right, where it rolled several times, the patrol said. Buckentine’s car left the road, caught fire and hit a line of trees.
The Cobalt’s passenger who died was identified as Jordan D. Kramer, 34, of Clarissa, Minn. Kramer died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol said. Another passenger, Candice C. Pooler, 39, also of Clarissa, sustained critical injuries, according to the patrol. The Cobalt’s driver, Lindsey K. Soiseth, 35, of Lake Lillian, Minn., also survived her injuries.
Also suffering noncritical injuries were Buckentine and his passenger, 21-year-old Trenton C. Michels, 22, of Becker, Minn., the patrol said.
Court records show that Buckentine’s driving history includes three convictions for speeding and another for careless driving in connection with him crashing his car in May 2022 east of St. Cloud in Santiago Township.
Star Tribune
Man accused of Lyndale Avenue gunfire, homicide near Willmar is ID’d by law enforcement
A murder charge could come as soon as Thursday against a 25-year-old man who’s accused of firing shots from an apartment balcony in the heart of Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake neighborhood before he fled and shot two people near Willmar as he attempted in vain to evade law enforcement in a high-speed chase.
The suspect, who is from Hopkins, remains held without bail in the Kandiyohi County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with a shooting Tuesday afternoon.
Kandiyohi County Attorney Shane Baker said he’s not expecting to file charges Wednesday. Charges are also pending in Hennepin County stemming from the early afternoon gunfire. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged. Minnesota court records show nothing in the man’s criminal background other than a minor drug paraphernalia conviction and numerous parking and driving violations.
Tuesday’s events unfolded shortly before 1 p.m., when police were called to an apartment complex at the 2900 block of Lyndale Avenue S., where the man fired off several rounds into the street from the building’s top floor.
Police shuttered the busy intersection and surrounding blocks from W. 28th to Lake streets in the densely populated commercial and residential corridor as they attempted to negotiate his surrender.
According to a Tuesday night release from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, the man traveled west through several counties and then shot and injured a man at a rural Kandiyohi County residence. Police say the suspect then fatally shot a motorist that he attempted to carjack at the Hwy. 71 and Hwy. 23 bypass southeast of Willmar. Police were eventually able to take the man into custody. He was jailed in Kandiyohi County on charges that include murder.
A medical examiner will release the victim’s name after an autopsy and family is notified.
“Today, multiple lives were put in harm’s way, with one person sadly losing their life,” Kandiyohi County Sheriff Spokesperson Imran Ali said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. Please continue to hold the victims, their families and our first responders in your prayers today.”
