Minneapolis officials ordered to court in Jamar Clark case
A federal judge has ordered Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other city officials to appear in court Wednesday for a status report on the lawsuit filed by the family of Jamar Clark, who was killed by police during a confrontation in November 2015.
Clark, a 24-year-old African American, was shot while he was on the ground, struggling with police outside a birthday party in north Minneapolis. The incident led to more than two weeks of protests outside the city's 4th Precinct police station, part of the Black Lives Matter movement intended to focus attention on fatal shootings of black men by police around the country.
Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Davis ordered Frey, City Council President Lisa Bender, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and City Attorney Susan Segal to appear in his courtroom at 10 a.m. for a "status conference." But the order, filed Monday, provides little other information.
It comes just days after the city settled a lawsuit for $20 million with the family of Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman from Australia who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor in 2017. A jury convicted Noor last week of murder and manslaughter in a criminal case.
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No criminal charges were brought against officers Dustin Schwarze and Mark Ringgenberg, who are named as defendants in the Clark family's civil suit.
In that case, Schwarze and Riggenberg were responding officers who had been told Clark was interfering with a paramedic crew treating his girlfriend outside a late-night birthday party.
Schwarze said he fired because his partner yelled that Clark was holding Ringgenberg's gun. He said he feared for Ringgenberg's life.
The suit claims the officers' "unreasonable use of excessive force" led to the fatal shooting. The Clark family is seeking punitive and compensatory damages for violating Jamar's civil rights.