Anoka Co. Sheriff Says Tire Slashing By His Deputies Was Limited

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – A day after a report surfaced that law enforcement officers slashed the tiresof vehicles belonging to protesters last month in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death, one police agency maintains its involvement was misrepresented.

The Anoka County Sheriff’s Department issued a news release on Tuesday entitled “The Truth Behind Tire Deflation During Minneapolis Riots”. In the release, issued by the office of Sheriff James Stuart, the department claims that while deputies did indeed slash tires on vehicles under the authority of the Multiagency Command Center, they disabled only two vehicles that were abandoned on the. S. Washington Ave. bridge over Interstate 35W.

The release states that the two vehicles were illegally abandoned on the roadway and were a potential hazard that could have been used as deadly mobile weapons as seen on previous days prior to May 31. A phone call to Stuart on Tuesday seeking clarification of his department’s actions was not immediately returned.

The department’s response comes a day after the Minneapolis Star-Tribune followed up on a poston Mother Jones that Minneapolis area police agencies slashed tires of vehicles belonging to protesters, media members and others that were parked in a Kmart parking lot. The release on Tuesday started that Anoka County Sheriff’s deputies were not involved in the slashing of tires in the parking lot, but instead, was limited to the bridge.

“The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Patrol deflated the tires of those two specific vehicles (on the bridge),” the release states.

The release indicates that Anoka County deputies and state troopers were acting under the direction of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and where told to “disable vehicles via tire deflation which were inside the law enforcement perimeter and obstructing law enforcement operations. This procedure, the release indicated, was done to preserve order, life and safety of protesters and law enforcement that were present at the location.

The Anoka County Sheriff’s Department indicated in the release that it cannot comment on what took place at the Kmart lot or what actions may have been taken by other agencies “as we simple do not know the facts of that location.”