It’s a start, I guess.
Andy Mannix and Emma Nelson, Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau on Thursday called the shooting death of Justine Damond “unnecessary” and bluntly said it contradicted the mission and training given to her officers.
“Justine didn’t have to die,” Harteau said…
“I believe the actions in question go against who we are as a department, how we train and the expectations we have for our officers. These were the actions and judgments of one individual,” she said.
One individual… who is an officer in the Minneapolis Police Department. One individual who was sent to Justine Damond’s house that night by an MPD dispatcher. One individual whose hiring was celebrated by Mayor Betsy Hodges, just a year ago, as a “wonderful sign of building trust and community policing at work.”
We still don’t know why Mohamed Noor killed this woman. We don’t know why he’s refusing to explain. We don’t know why there’s no footage from the body cameras or dashcam. I suppose “She didn’t have to die” is progress.
Here’s the story from WCCO:
Sounds like Noor’s lawyer is exploring an Ambien defense. Ambien can trigger some bizarre sleepwalking effects, so maybe they’ll argue that Damond was under the influence and behaving strangely when she was killed. Seems like a long shot, but that’s what lawyers do.
And apparently, Noor is going to be given all the time he needs to get his story straight. Hope it’s a good one.