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Black Lives Matter activists in Minneapolis and the NAACP have demanded that a special prosecutor reopen the shooting case of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, who was killed by Minneapolis police last November.
Atlanta Black Star reported that Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced his findings last week — based on collected evidence — that Clark allegedly struggled with officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze.
Supporters peacefully protested last week because they did not believe Freeman’s account of the evidence. Freeman said in last Wednesday’s news conference that Clark said, “I’m ready to die,” more than once during the altercation with arresting officers.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Clark may have had his hands on Ringgenberg’s gun during an altercation with the officer.
“I know my cousin didn’t tell that officer he was ready to die,” family member Cameron Clark told local CBS News outlet WCCO last week. “I know he didn’t, and for Mike Freeman to make that story up, and lie like that, he’s got blood on his hands. And that’s all I’m going to say.”
Monday, Minneapolis BLM and the NAACP released a joint statement:
“Mike Freeman spent thirty minutes demonizing Jamar Clark and invalidating community accounts of what transpired,” the statement said. “Mike Freeman basically functioned as a defense attorney for the police, and not as a prosecutor for the people.”
The BLM group wrote a longer statement on their Facebook page detailing the events of the Clark case, but at the tail end the group makes their demands:
Screenshot of Minnesota Black Lives Matter Facebook Post
The conjoined group of activists wanted to also set the record straight about the alleged victim Ray Ann Hayes. Freeman stated that Hayes was the woman Jamar Clark allegedly abused last November. However, Hayes stated publicly that she was not in a relationship with Clark and that she was not abused in any way.
