Moturi case: Some bad decisions, and some good ones as well

On October 23^rd of this year John Sawchak shot his south Minneapolis Grand Avenue next door neighbor.  This was preceded by months and years of neighborhood conflict and police calls on Sawchak, believed to be struggling with poorly controlled mental illness.

There is one thing we know for certain about the shooting of Mr. Davis Moturi by his neighbor John Sawchak. It should never have happened.  Whatever decisions were made by the police, the courts, prosecutors, and county social services, however well intended or legally limited, they did not protect Mr. Moturi.

I don’t have a lot more information than is in the public domain.  I do understand a lot of historical context.  As we await an unbiased review of the facts, I offer my perspective based on the information we have, in hopes of forestalling a premature rush to judgement.

The Minneapolis Police Department in particular, made some decisions that turned out badly in this case.  They also made some good decisions, the kind we are expecting them to make.

One undeniable fact impacting the Moturi case, not an excuse, but a reality, is that MPD is down 40% in sworn staffing.  They now have about the same number of officers as the St. Paul Police Department, serving a city with 130,000 more residents and 100,000 more 911 calls. This drastic reduction in staffing are the fruits of the last and some of the current city council’s constant disparagement and absence of support for MPD. To quote Malcolm X, “their chickens have come home to roost”.  Many officers have gone elsewhere, where they are paid at least as well, are supported, and appreciated.

Sawchak was beyond just a neighborhood nuisance, he was a genuine threat.  A 5th precinct lieutenant made over 20 visits trying to mediate and later attempt to apprehend Sawchak when misdemeanor arrest warrants were issued.  Yes, they could have kicked in the door at that time for the misdemeanor arrest warrants when he refused to respond.

The question has been asked, if Sawchak had misdemeanor warrants for his arrest, why then didn’t the police do a high-risk entry sooner?

There are several considerations.

First and perhaps foremost, high-risk entries are inherently dangerous, both for the occupants of the dwelling and officers.  We should recall the deaths of an elderly African-American couple during a drug warrant on Golden Valley Road in January 1989. Unbeknownst to officers, Lloyd Smalley and Lillian Weise were present at the target residence and had essentially become captives to drug dealers, who had taken over their residence to sell drugs.  Knowing the dealers were armed, the entry team used a “flash bang” explosive distraction device to disorient the suspects.  The device came in contact with curtains and started a fire.  Officers saved one of the suspects by pulling him from the smoke filled room but were unaware of Smalley and Weise’s presence. They perished in the inferno.

More recently the police killing of Amir Locke took place during a high risk warrant.  Mr. Locke was not the target, but when officers breached the door they observed him holding a legally possessed firearm.  He was shot and killed by the police.  The shooting was determined to be legally justified,  but should not have happened in my opinion.

In this case Sawchak was believed to have a gun.  Had officers shot and killed a mentally ill man in his own home, what would the public and media narrative have been? What would the legal consequences have been?  Instead, officers spent hours on stake out trying to arrest him safely.

The situation on Grand Avenue was critical, but it was competing with other community threats across the city.  That is reality.  For example, there have been multiple shootings and homicides at homeless camps.  A homicide crime scene is labor intensive for precinct responding officers. There is also a ripple effect as officers citywide take calls in the affected precinct as well as their own.  Street staffing just gets thinner and thinner.

Following the shooting of Mr. Moturi, Sawchak was charged with a felony.  Why did it take several days to arrest him?  Still trying to avoid the possibility of shooting a mentally ill person in his home, MPD kept the house continuously under surveillance by officers on scene.  Ultimately, still wanting to use the least force necessary and try to de-escalate, hours of negotiation were attempted.  In hopes of avoiding a dynamic and dangerous SWAT entry, the launching of tear gas was threatened.  This finally resulted in his surrender.  There were no injuries to the suspect or officers, but the neighborhood was greatly disrupted.

While this MPD approach minimized risk to neighbors the reason for the overall delay is a fair question.

A fair criticism in my opinion was inadequate communication with the neighborhood during the critical incident.  I expect that has made for a lesson learned, organizational memory may have faded.

An independent investigation has been called for and that absolutely the right thing to do for the community and MPD.  They need to objectively follow the entire timeline and talk to everyone with first-hand knowledge of the case.  I have shared my opinions with you based on my experience and what I know of the present case.  If the investigation reveals information to the contrary, I will stand corrected.  After all, I am asking you not to jump to conclusions, and neither should I.

I believe officers had to make decisions in an almost no-win grossly under resourced situation.  In hindsight they may well wish they had done a forced entry to make an earlier misdemeanor arrest, hopefully avoiding the use of deadly force, and thereby preventing the shooting of Mr. Moturi.

Lastly, some activists have predictably called for Chief O’Hara to resign. I served on his search committee and believe it would be very bad for Minneapolis and MPD to lose him.  He is competent and genuine. I challenge you to name a prior Chief as visible in the community, particularly at high profile events around the clock.  At this critical moment of consent decree reform, let us not forget, he has the rare experience of having led a large urban police department through the arduous process.  He is our Chief at great strain on his family in New Jersey.  He deserves our support and respect.