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CNN reviewed more than two hours of excerpted videos from multiple police body cameras released Tuesday by an attorney for a man who was recently acquitted on charges of firing a gun at officers after they fired nonlethal bullets at him on May 30.
May 30 was perhaps the most forceful response to protests seen by CNN crews on the ground up to that point in the week. This was after multiple nights of buildings being burned and five days after George Floyd was killed. A citywide curfew went into effect at 8 p.m. that evening.
In one video that is timestamped around 1 a.m., on May 31, 2020, then (he has since retired) Minneapolis Police Commander Bruce Folkens is heard telling an officer during a debrief, “Tonight it was just nice to hear, ‘we’re going to go find some more people, instead of chasing people around.'” He continued, “you guys are out hunting people now, and it’s just a nice change of tempo.”
Around 10:40 p.m. on May 30, Minneapolis police Sgt. Andrew Bittell is heard saying, “We’re rolling down Lake St. The first f**kers we see, we’re just handling them with 40’s,” apparently referring to 40 mm nonlethal rounds which certain Minneapolis police officers use to control crowds or during civil disobedience.
Five minutes later, they speed toward a gas station, “Go, go, go, get up there!”
“Let them have it, boys,” Bittell said.
As they begin firing on the group, the group scatters, and officers later learn the group includes the gas station owner and his family and friends who were there to protect the station.
In a separate location just after 10 p.m. on May 30, 2020, Lt. Johnny Mercil approached Officer Michael Osbeck and said, “F**k these media.”
In what appears to be a mocking tone, he said, “Hold on a second, let me check your credentials, make a few phone calls just to verify.”
Mercil goes on to tell the…
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Source : cnn
