St. Paul Mayor Carter calls on SPPD to investigate arrest of teen girl
Updated: 9:00 p.m. Thursday | Posted: 9:05 p.m. Wednesday
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has asked the city’s police department to launch an internal affairs investigation into officers involved in arresting a 13-year-old girl last week after a video went viral on social media.
The video, apparently recorded by an onlooker of the incident, showed three officers restraining a girl on the floor inside a store in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood as she screamed and resisted.
According to a police report, the incident began around 6:35 p.m. on Sept. 26, when St. Paul police say the girl assaulted an officer and others in the area of a BP gas station in the 1300 block of University Avenue West and then ran.
Officers including Alexander Graham and Grady Sheehy eventually arrested her, the report says. The girl was sent to a juvenile detention facility. The report does not mention another business.
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The arrest didn’t draw much attention until the footage was posted on Facebook the day after the arrest and then shared by a prominent civil rights attorney this week. The video was taken down as of Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking with reporters Thursday at the offices of the Minneapolis ACLU, Davida Conover said she was “totally disgusted,” after she found out about the incident between her daughter and the officers on Facebook. She said her daughter, whom she did not name, suffers from mental illness and sensory sensitivity.
“It breaks my heart,” Conover said. “Nobody should be treated like that.”
Mayor Carter released a statement calling the video "deeply disturbing" and said he's asked Police Chief Todd Axtell to launch a formal internal affairs investigation into the incident as soon as possible.
“We prioritize the trust, we greatly value the trust that our officers have worked hard to earn from St. Paul residents,” Carter said. He added that he has asked for a “thorough and timely and transparent investigation so that we can get to the bottom of what occurred.”
St. Paul Police spokesperson Steve Linders said that officers were investigating a report of juveniles trying to break into vehicles when they encountered the girl, and she resisted arrest and refused orders to put her hands behind her back.
“It can be difficult to watch an arrest take place,” Linders said.
Conover said an officer in the video knew that about her daughter before the arrest.
The St. Paul Police Department declined to comment on whether the officer had encountered the girl before and what he knew about her mental health.
Conover said her daughter is having nightmares about the incident. She declined to say if the teen is still in police custody or if she has been charged with a crime.
“I just have to pray I can get the services she needs,” Conover said.