A June agreement amongst five metro county attorneys to hand off police killing investigations to another county means Dakota County Attorney’s Office will be reviewing the Minneapolis fatal shooting of Dolal Idd once the BCA investigation is complete.
The county attorneys for Ramsey, Anoka, Dakota, Washington and Hennepin agreed the offices would not be involved in the investigation and possible prosecution if a police killing occurred there. One of the other county attorneys offices would step in to oversee the case.
In this situation, Dakota County Attorney James Backstom told WCCO Radio he agreed to review it once the BCA hands over the investigation.
“We understand the growing concern that there is an appearance of a conflict of interest,” Backstrom said by phone Monday. “While we don’t believe there is one, there is certainly a growing feeling there is an appearance of a conflict of interest for county attorneys to review cases involving law enforcement officers within their own jurisdiction.”
Backstrom said the conversations about the agreement started last December. It’s been invoked twice before, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s office.
Meanwhile, the early morning search warrant at Idd’s family home in Eden Prairie hours after officers fatally shot him, sought guns and other evidence, but nothing was recovered.
Uproar from some community members about how family members were treated, including young children, prompted the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office to release body camera video.
According to the search warrant affidavit filed Monday, the Wednesday night fatal shooting began as a gun sting by setting up a purchase with a confidential informant. It was then that the police cornered Idd and a passenger in the Holiday gas station at 36th and Cedar. Body camera video released less than 24 hours later by the Minneapolis Police Department appeared to show Idd raising a gun to the window and glass flies away from the sedan. Officers appeared to fire at least a dozen times.
Backstrom said he’s spoken to the BCA and to the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.
“We have not yet received any information in terms of a report from them, we are awaiting that,” Backstrom said. “Once that comes, and that could take weeks, it can take sometimes months, but once the report is done and finished it will be given to our office. We will review the manner thoroughly. And when we reach a decision, before we release it publicly we’ll be meeting with the family of the deceased if they choose to do so.”
Upwards of 1,000 people marched over the weekend calling for justice in the shooting. The BCA is in the process of conducting interviews with anyone present, including bystanders and officers, and collecting any other video from nearby residences or businesses.
“This case will be reviewed as we’ve always done in the past and always will in the future, in an unbiased and fair and impartial manner. We will make a decision based on the law that exists here in the state of Minnesota pertaining to whether a law enforcement officer is justified to use deadly force and under what circumstances.”