HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 07-10 St. Paul police explain response to protests KARE11St. Paul police explain response to protests
Karla Hult, KARE 10:43 PM. CDT July 10, 2016
ST. PAUL, Minn. — One day after protests over the police
killing of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights turned violent, St.
Paul police leaders say they'll continue to protect both the
freedom of speech and public safety.
IflliVili' "It can be anti -police. It can be anti -second amendment. It
can be first amendment speech. Whatever. If you're peaceful,
we will help you to express that message," said Commander
Steve Frazer about the rights of protestors to publicly state
their concerns about the July 6 shootina. (htto://www.karell.com/news/familv-man-shot-bv-
olice-has-died/26577281 0
Frazer acted as "Incident Commander" of the police force Saturday night, when protestors
walked onto Interstate 94, shutting it down for a more than five hours.
RELATED: 102 arrested. 21 officers injured in 1-94 shutdown
(htto://www.karel l.com/news/1 02 -arrested -21 -office rs-ini ured-in-94-shutd own/268434384
"They did take over the highway, which creates a ton of public safety concerns, for the traffic,
the people traveling on the interstate who don't expect the traffic would be stopped," Frazer
said.
"In the 300, 400 people that were on the highway, there was at least a quarter of the crowd
that I would consider very dangerous and very hostile who were building a cache of
construction debris and rocks, bottles, some had brought pre -formed Molotov cocktails. It was
ugly," he added.
"Last night was as intense and more dangerous than anything I've ever been in in almost 26 -
plus years," Frazer said.
On Sunday, St. Paul police leaders both denounced the violent turn in events while also
continuing to try and connect with the community.
"Our citizens, they know what happened overnight. They're expecting us to not be so friendly
today. Our challenge, our goal is to be friendly," said Deputy Chief Mary Nash, who spent much
of her day interacting with protestors gathered at the Governor's mansion in St. Paul.
Meantime, leaders from other local departments praised the actions of the St. Paul police force
and other supporting agencies when confronted with violence.
"In really challenging circumstances, in a post -Ferguson environment, I admire the decisions
that were made and the restraints that were shown by the troopers as well as the St. Paul
officers and supervising command staff," said Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell, adding
that those responses could help in building bridges between police and the community.
"We need to take this time to build relationships to make a better, stronger community," he
said.