Star Tribune
Willmar man died after shock from deputy’s Taser in eviction attempt over late rent, officials say
A man who was shocked by a Taser fired by a sheriff’s deputy this week while wielding a knife in an apartment in Willmar, Minn., has died, officials said Wednesday.
Michael James Yanacheak, 75, was tased Monday morning while officers were attempting to evict him from his home in the 1600 block of SW. 5th Street, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said.
The BCA said in a statement that the cause of Yanacheak’s death, including whether tasing was a factor, “is undetermined pending further investigation” by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office.
BCA spokeswoman Bonney Bowman said her agency doesn’t track deaths associated with law enforcement deploying Tasers.
One of the most authoritative investigations into deaths in the United States attributed at least in part to Tasers or other makes of stun guns is a 2017 investigation by the Reuters news agency, which put the tally at more than 1,000, nearly all of them since the early 2000s. Reuters listed 14 of those deaths as occurring in Minnesota.
Yanacheak’s niece Shani Gutknecht told the Star Tribune that her uncle had been having mental and physical issues recently.
“I was over there on Sunday, and he was not well,” she said. “We’ve been trying to get him help at the VA [hospital] in St. Cloud.”
Gutknecht said she knew her uncle was uncharacteristically behind on his rent, and the plan was for him to relocate to a mental health unit in Willmar.
“He has just fallen through the cracks,” she said. “This whole thing should not have happened.”
Yanacheak served for three years in the Army during the Vietnam War and worked at the Minnesota State Capitol for decades as a security guard until his retirement, Gutknecht said.
“We used to go there as kids and visit him,” Gutknecht recalled. “He lived in St. Paul most of his life and walked to work. He took that job very, very seriously.”
According to the BCA and court records:
Two Kandiyohi County sheriff’s deputies and two Willmar police officers went to Yanacheak’s apartment to enforce a court-ordered eviction that was filed on Jan. 23 for failing to pay his $770 in monthly rent in November and December. They tried to get him to open the door, but he didn’t respond.
After about an hour, the Town Oaks apartment building manager pried open the door, and the law enforcement officers entered. They found Yanacheak in a bedroom, where he picked up a kitchen knife and walked toward them.
The officers tried to retreat out of the apartment, but at one point, Deputy Riley Kampsen deployed his Taser and struck Yanacheak.
The officers provided medical care at the scene until he could be taken to St. Cloud Hospital, where he died that night. No officers shot their firearms.
A police officer recovered a knife at the scene, which was turned over to the BCA.
Kampsen and the two police officers all had on body-worn cameras. BCA agents are reviewing all available video as part of the active investigation.
Once the investigation is complete, the BCA will present its findings without a charging recommendation to the Kandiyohi County Attorney’s Office for review into whether Kampsen’s actions were legally justified.
The BCA said Kampsen has five years of law enforcement experience.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
