Ex-MPD cop gets 15 days for assault during Floyd unrest
A judge has ordered a former Minneapolis police officer to report to the Hennepin County workhouse next week to begin serving a 15-day sentence for kicking and punching a man in 2020.
Justin Stetson pleaded guilty to assaulting Jaleel Stallings in the week after George Floyd’s murder. In just three years, Jaleel Stallings has experienced Minnesota’s justice system not only as a criminal defendant and a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit, but also as a victim.
“I can’t escape the fact that the system that I believe was designed to provide justice to citizens protected my attacker, but not me,” Stallings said in testimony at Stetson’s sentencing hearing on Monday.
All three cases stemmed from the same incident on May 30, 2020. Five days after police murdered George Floyd, Stallings was out with a group of friends. It was after curfew, but they were not rioting or looting.
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His group was deciding whether to check on another friend’s business or just call it a night, and soon found themselves in a parking lot on Lake Street.
That’s when a group of Minneapolis police officers in a plain white van spotted them, as heard on body camera video. Without warning, one officer fires a 40mm foam marking projectile just before Stallings returns fire with his 9mm pistol.
The projectile struck Stallings in the chest, but none of his rounds hit any of the officers. Because the van was unmarked, Stallings did not realize that police were inside. As soon as he did, he tossed away his gun and lay spread-eagle, face down on the ground.
Even though Stallings surrendered and complied with officers’ commands, Sgt. Andrew Bittell and Officer Justin Stetson kicked and punched him for about 30 seconds.
Stallings suffered head and facial injuries including a broken eye socket. Police lied in their reports and said Stallings had resisted arrest.
Even though body camera video and footage from a nearby security camera contradicted these claims, Hennepin County prosecutors still charged Stallings with attempted murder and assault. He rejected a plea deal.
At his 2021 trial, the 31-year-old Black Army veteran testified that he feared white supremacist groups were roaming Minneapolis looking to start trouble, so he shot at the van in self-defense. The jury acquitted him of all charges. Stallings sued and later received a $1.5 million settlement from the city.
The next year the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office filed charges against Stetson. In May, the 35-year-old former officer pleaded guilty to felony third-degree assault. On Monday, Judge Shereen Askalani sentenced him to the county workhouse.
Askalani allowed Stetson to serve his term at home with a GPS ankle bracelet. Stetson previously wrote an apology letter as part of his plea deal, which he referenced in a brief statement that he read in court.
“I reaffirm my plea of guilty in this case. I also stand by my previously filed apology. I accept responsibility for my actions and the sentence of this court,” Stetson said.
The judge also ordered Stetson to take an anger management class and banned him for life from working in law enforcement.
If Stetson abides by the terms of his two years’ probation, his conviction will go on the books as a misdemeanor, not a felony. That’s typical for first-time offenders in Minnesota. He also avoids federal civil rights charges.
After the hearing, Stallings said the sentence was too light, Stetson’s apology was insincere, and other officers should have been charged too.
“I’m glad we got to some level of accountability. I’m disappointed in the level of accountability that we got to,” Stallings said.
Stallings has since moved to Texas over fear of reprisals from police in Minnesota. But at the same time, he founded a nonprofit called the Good Apple Initiative, an effort to support people in Minnesota’s criminal justice system who uphold the values and ideals of public service.
“I feel as if we can all get to a place where both the community and law enforcement trusts and respects each other,” he said.
Stallings said fostering trust and respect will not only be good for the community, it will also help law enforcement do their jobs effectively and with integrity.