Thunderstorms now heading through eastern part of the state

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The Minneapolis city auditor says procedural errors at the Minneapolis Police Department weakened its response to reports of domestic violence and racial harassment in two cases — the death of Allison Lussier and the non-fatal shooting of Davis Moturi. 

 to the city audit committee and members of the Minneapolis City Council Wednesday. Reviewers poured over 49,000 pages of documents, viewed 75 hours of body-worn camera footage, and more than 30 interviews. 

Timmerman said officers kept inconsistent documentation early in those cases. 

“Reporting practices varied widely, including incomplete witness statements, missing victim forms, inconsistent injury documentation and the inconsistent use of police report workflow flags for bias weapons or repeat conduct,” he said. 

Lussier, an Indigenous woman, was found dead in her apartment in 2024 after repeatedly reporting domestic violence. Her case remains unsolved.

Moturi, a Black man, was shot and injured by his white neighbor after reporting racial harassment for more than a year.

The audit makes dozens of recommendations to police to improve responses, including ensuring officers are familiar with the background of a case and past complaints before responding to a call, and stepping up officer training on domestic violence. 

It also offers criticisms of how MPD leaders communicated to members of the department and the public.

“Messaging from MPD leadership was at times premature, underinformed, and inaccurate,” reads one part of the report. “Misstatements played into longstanding distrust among communities disproportionately affected by violence.”

Communication also broke down between the police department and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, according to the audit. The offices reportedly went several months without communicating. Timmerman said the county attorney’s office had made efforts to reach out to MPD, and said police chief Brian O’Hara and county attorney Mary Moriarty have now agreed to keep up a regular meeting schedule.

Lussier's family has maintained she was killed by an abusive ex-boyfriend. The initial medical examiner's investigation into her death focused on the possibility of a drug overdose. Police responding to the scene did not treat it as a crime scene, according to the audit.

The medical examiner's report listed the cause of death as subdermal hematoma. The manner of death was listed as "undetermined." Blood tests found methamphetamine and fentanyl in Lussier's system.

Family members have said Lussier struggled with substance use disorder. But they say police investigators failed to look into the multiple reports of domestic violence Lussier made to police in the years leading up to her death. According to the audit, MPD had not requested the county medical examiner's report until auditors approached the department to ask for those documents.

The after-action review comes a week after O'Hara met personally with Lussier's family and other community members they invited to the table. At that April 14 meeting, O'Hara apologized to the family for an earlier statement he made to the media characterizing the drugs in Lussier's system as "massive" — language the family said caused further harm. The chief also apologized for any shortcomings by MPD in the handling of the case.

In a statement last week, O'Hara said he takes responsibility for the impact of his words, and that while his comments were based on incomplete information, "intent does not lessen the harm." 

He said the department is committed to taking a fresh look at Lussier's case and to improving its response to domestic violence more broadly. He also asked anyone with information about Lussier's death to come forward.

The audit contains more than a dozen findings and recommendations. Among them: that MPD issue an apology to Lussier's family. At a city council meeting this week, council member Jason Chavez asked O'Hara to apologize again, in front of family members in attendance.

MPD's homicide unit continues to investigate Lussier's death.

It happened after months of asking the police for help, as that neighbor's harassment escalated.

John Sawchak, a white man, allegedly hurled racial slurs and death threats at Moturi, a Black man, who lived in fear for a year.

The Moturi household made 38 calls to 911 leading up to the shooting. According to the audit, Moturi reported a week before he was shot that Sawchak had pointed a gun at him and that the report of a threat with a weapon was not escalated internally within MPD, or passed along to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Moturi says officers said they couldn't do anything unless Sawchak came out of the house.

"This man tried to kill me. And they're just like okay, well, here's a blue card,” he said. “You should just move. And it's like, wait, what? Like, he's trying to kill me. And you know, they just didn't care. And I know I didn't have the right complexion for protection" 

After Moturi was shot and hospitalized, it took MPD about five days to arrest Sawchak. 

Initially, Police Chief Brian O'Hara placed more blame on Moturi than on his own department. 

Eventually, O'Hara apologized and said MPD would conduct an internal investigation over the matter. 

The results of that investigation have not been made public.

The report also notes changes to MPD policies and training.  And it found what it called “promising practices” by officers:

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

NewsPartners

Homepage

Minnesota News

Minneapolis News

Melissa Olson

Author

Cari Spencer

Estelle Timar-Wilcox

A report from the Minneapolis City Auditor released Wednesday is critical of the Minneapolis police department’s actions leading up to and following the death of Allison Lussier. It also said “slower responses reduced opportunities to intervene as threats escalated” in the shooting of Davis Moturi.  

Report critical of Minneapolis police handling of Lussier death and Moturi shooting

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox