Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara is butting heads again with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.
The latest disagreement comes from Moriarty's decision to not file charges against a man who they arrested in connection with vandalism that damaged several Tesla vehicles in downtown Minneapolis. The vandalism over $20,000 in damages.
In a statement, O'Hara says the Minneapolis Police Department did their job, but is critical of Moriarty's decision to refer 33-year-old Dylan Adams of Minneapolis to an adult diversion program.
"Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Hennepin County Attorney should be directed solely at her office," O'Hara said. "Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same.”
The diversion program allows low-level, first time offenders to keep their job while performing community service and paying restitution.
Moriarty, in a statement through her office, says the program is used routinely in similar cases, and that charges can always be refiled if offenders don't hold up their end of the bargain.
Over the last year, there have been other incidents where O'Hara and Moriarty didn't see eye-to-eye, including criticism of the county attorney after Moriarty insinuated Minneapolis police officers aren't doing enough to get cases involving violent carjackings in the city to her in order to charge.
"Any implication that the Minneapolis cops are not doing everything they can to try and solve that problem, not partnering with the people to try and address it, is just not true and it's a slap in the face to the cops that are out there every single day putting their lives on the line to try and resolve this problem as quickly as we can," O'Hara said at the time.
More recently, Moriarty faced criticism from the police chiefs of Bloomington and Golden Valley, with Bloomington Chief Booker Hodges saying she went to their bosses with complaints, something he had never experienced previously.
Last week, Moriarty tells Vineeta Sawkar on WCCO Radio she did reach out to Hodges, who never responded.