MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the resignation of Minneapolis’ police chief amid the investigation into the fatal shooting of an Australian woman by an officer (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges says her nominee for police chief is adept at building relationships and that skill is crucial in the wake of last weekend’s fatal police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911.
Hodges announced Friday evening that Assistant Police Chief Medaria Arradondo was her pick to head the department, but she was shouted down by protesters before she could finish the press conference.
On Saturday, she told The Associated Press that Arradondo is good at helping usher people through change and that he works well with both critics and fans of the department.
Forty-year-old Justine Damond died after she was shot by a police officer on July 15. Damond had called 911 to report hearing a possible sexual assault happening in the alley behind her home. Authorities say Officer Mohamed Noor fatally shot her as she approached his squad car.
The shooting remains under investigation.
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10:10 a.m.
A Minneapolis city councilwoman says she’s had positive dealings with the mayor’s pick to take over the police department, but she wonders whether it might be better to bring in an outsider.
Linea Palmisano, who represents the ward where a police officer shot an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911 last weekend, said Saturday that she’s known Assistant Police Chief Medaria Arradondo for some time. She says she’s relied on him to explain police initiatives and has always been impressed.
But the councilwoman says she thinks it might be too difficult for someone from within the department to make the cultural changes needed to curtail police violence.
Mayor Betsy Hodges on Friday nominated Arradondo to take over as police chief from Janee Harteau, who resigned at Hodges request amid the investigation into the July 15 shooting of Justine Damond.
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8:55 a.m.
State investigators say they’ve interviewed a witness who was near the alley where a Minneapolis police officer shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman last weekend.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a news release Friday that the person was bicycling nearby just before the shooting and stopped and watched officers perform CPR on Justine Damond late on July 15.
The Star Tribune (https://strib.mn/2tQ5y2S ) reports that an unnamed source with direct knowledge of the investigation said the witness filmed part of the encounter. It doesn’t say whether that includes the actual shooting or only the aftermath.
Damond, a 40-year-old spiritual healer from Australia who lived in Minneapolis, had called 911 to report hearing a possible sexual assault happening in the alley behind her home. Authorities say Officer Mohamed Noor fatally shot her as she approached his squad car.
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12:45 a.m.
Minneapolis police Chief Janee (juh-NAY’) Harteau (har-TOH’) says she is “willing to step aside to let a fresh set of leadership eyes” be in charge of the department.
She and the police force are facing criticism in the wake of last weekend’s fatal police shooting of 40-year-old Justine Damond, an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911.
Harteau’s resignation Friday came at the request of Mayor Betsy Hodges, who said she lost confidence in the chief.
Harteau worked her way up from the bottom of the department to become the city’s first female, first openly gay and first Native American police chief.
She said Friday that she was honored to serve as chief, but that she must “put the communities we serve first” despite the department’s accomplishments under her leadership.
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