Mpls. officials: No charges in Minnehaha incident

Updated: July 26 2:30 p.m. | Posted: July 25, 7:43 p.m.

No one will be charged at this time for a 911 call that turned out to be false and led to the detention of a group of teens, Minneapolis officials said Wednesday.

On July 10, Minneapolis Park Police responded to a 911 call saying teens with knives and possibly a gun were assaulting a man at Minnehaha Regional Park. Police responded with several squad cars. They handcuffed the four black teens, ages 13 to 16, and one officer had drawn a gun.

But the 911 call turned out to be false. No evidence was found that corroborated the caller's report.

The incident got widespread attention after a bystander recorded the police response to the call.

The Minneapolis City Attorney's office released a statement that no charges will be brought against the 911 caller.

"There are a number of elements to this offense, each of which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt," said Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal in an email. "The City Attorney's Office carefully reviewed the evidence and information gathered during the investigation of this matter by the Park Police. We declined to charge the named suspect with false reporting due to insufficient evidence to prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt."

Segal went on to say that there's not sufficient evidence to prove the identity of the caller, who identified herself by one name.

Segal said the phone is registered to a woman with a different name. Segal further said "the only description of the caller is that she was 16 or 17 years old, but the potential suspect is 5-6 years older."

She also said under state statute, prosecutors must demonstrate a person knowingly made a false statement.

"The audiotape of the 911 call shows that the caller stated 'there's another guy with a backpack on, he keeps saying there's a gun in his backpack;' while no gun was recovered at the scene, this is not dispositive of whether the statement was made to the 911 caller and whether she 'knew' it was false," Segal's statement says.

Some of the teens said later that a "white kid" came up to them yelling racial slurs, before park police arrived. Three of the boys said they were afraid they would be shot by the officers.

In a transcript of the 911 call released by the city Wednesday, a caller whose name is redacted says the teens were harassing her and someone she referred to as a boyfriend. "They keep pulling out weapons and just won't leave us alone and following me," she said, according to the transcript.

The caller eventually said the teens were walking away, and that they could follow them. The operator tells them not to and the caller responds "I want something to be done about this."

On the transcript, the operator again tells the caller not to follow and the caller says "OK" before the call ends.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Superintendent Mary Merrill released a statement Wednesday regarding the decision.

"We believe reporting false information puts people's lives in danger and any person reporting false information should be held accountable," Merrill said in the statement.

An internal investigation into the actions of the park police officers may be completed within a week.

The board is also reviewing the release of "the body camera video in compliance" with state law.