Police Agencies Acknowledge Slashing Protesters' Tires: Report

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Two law enforcement agencies acknowledged on Monday that their officers were involved in slashing the tires of the vehicles belonging to protesters and media members that were parked in a Minneapolis Kmart parking lot during protests following the death of George Floyd.

Video of officers dressed in military-style fatigues and wielding knives used to slash tires of the vehicles on May 30 first surfaced on the site, Mother Jones. But on Monday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune confirmed that state troopers and Anoka County sheriff’s deputies were involved in puncturing the tires of cars in the store parking lot at Lake St. and Nicolette Ave.

A Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman told the newspaper that state troopers were involved and that they “strategically deflated tires” to keep drivers from driving dangerously at high speeds around protesters and officers.

The spokesman also confirmed that vehicles were targeted that “contained items to cause harm during violent protests,” the Star-Tribune reported. A email sent Monday to the Department of Public Safety by Patch was not immediately returned.

“While not a typical tactic, vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protests were occurring,” the spokesman, Bruce Gordon, told the newspaper.

The tires of vehicles parked along Washington Ave. were also slashed by Anoka County officers who were instructed to do so by a multiagency command center, the Star-Tribune reported. Lt. Andy Knotz from the Anoka County sheriff’s department told the newspaper that towing the cars was not an option due to the fact that two trucks could not enter the lot due to the number of people at the scene.

Andrew Kimmel, a Los Angeles-based documentary and television producer and the the former director of live video for Buzzfeed, told Patch on Monday that he has yet to be able to file a police report after all four tires of his rental car were slashed at the lot on May 30.

Asked both by Patch and by multiple responders to his Twitter post how he knew police were involved, Kimmel said police had overtaken the lot shortly after the protests began. He said it would not have been possible for protesters to enter the lot due to the number of people and police officers present.

On his Twitter feed, Kimmel interviewed the tow truck operator who responded to the lot the day after tires were slashed. The driver, who said he was born and raised in St. Paul, said he had been towing vehicles belonging to medics, news crews and others whose vehicles were parked in the lots at the time of the protests.