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MPR News Staff
St. Paul, Minn.

Attorney chosen to investigate Al Flowers arrest

Booking photo of Al Flowers
Al Flowers, as he appeared in his booking photos, July 26, 2014.
Via Hennepin County jail

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Minneapolis attorney Don Lewis will lead an independent investigation into the recent arrest of community activist Al Flowers, Mayor Betsy Hodges said Friday.

Lewis will investigate whether officers violated department policy regarding use of force in connection with the arrest, she said.

Flowers, a longtime critic of the Minneapolis Police Department, was arrested last week after officers came to his house early Saturday morning to arrest a family member and ended up beating him. He said the officers came to arrest his teenage daughter, but didn't have a warrant and a scuffle broke out after he asked to see it.

Community activists said the beating was not an isolated incident.

Lewis "is a respected leader in the community who I know will be thorough and fair," Hodges said in a statement.

Lewis is past dean of Hamline University School of Law and was an assistant United States Attorney for Minnesota. He led St. Paul's outside investigation into the 2013 landslide at Lilydale Regional Park, in which two children died.