(WARNING: Video does contain explicit language)
A Minneapolis man is sharing his story of being arrested by police, a day after protestors descended on the 3rd precinct, breaking squad car windows, slashing tires, and spray-painting the building. Police responded by shooting rubber bullets, and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The next day, Dan R was collecting some of the debris, to document what he thought was excessive force used by police. He had just put it into a plastic bag, when six officers from the 3rd precinct walked across the street and demanded that he turn over the garbage. He refused and they arrested him. I just happened to be next to him at the time, along with a few other people who yelled at the officers.
“Why are you arresting him?” they asked. We later learned that Dan R was being arrested for probable cause inciting a riot, which from my vantage point did not appear to be true.
Dan R then spent the next 50 hours in the Hennepin County jail.
“I could not access legal help. They held me longer than they were legally allowed to do,” he said, after just getting out of jail. I asked him if he wished he would have just turned over the garbage. “No,” he said. “To this day I will stand my ground and believe that it may have been just garbage, but it was my property and something that needed to be documented because this is a historic time.”
He told me he was in solitary confinement for 23 hours and was scared and sad at times. He laid on the ground and tried to watch television to watch the events unfold. He’s angry because he wanted to be part of what he hopes will be a cultural shift in the United States when it comes to equality for people of color. He is Hispanic.
There’s video of the arrest, and he says he’s heard from several legal organizations to help him if he wants to take action against the Minneapolis Police Department.
