The Ramsey County Way

My home county is named for Alexander Ramsey, who was mayor of Saint Paul, then governor and U.S. Senator for the state of Minnesota in the mid-1800s. These days, I'd say he's best known for his policy of exterminating and removing the Dakota people from Minnesota during his time as governor. His name was recently removed from a middle school in Saint Paul.

I wonder how long his name will be on our county, and what the process would be to change it.

This came into mind today when I read (Pioneer Press gift link) that the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners just reached a $75,000 settlement with a Black resident of one of the county's suburbs who was injured, falsely arrested, and charged by a county sheriff's deputy.

Michael Torrey-White is 67, mostly deaf, and uses a walker. He was wearing clothes that did not match those of the suspect sheriffs were looking for, who had been described as being in his late 30s. All the two had in common was that they were male and Black.

The deputy who assaulted Torrey-White provided information to county staff, who wrote up the encounter for the board this way:

"[Torrey-White] refused to speak with the deputy and turned away from Deputy Williams placing his hand in his pocket. This caused Deputy Williams to place his hand on (Torrey-White), out of caution of not knowing what could be in (his) pocket, to conduct a pat down.

"(Torrey-White) jerks away from the deputy,” the county’s summary said. “After a controlled takedown, handcuffs were placed on (Torrey-White). After additional facts were discovered, it became evident to Deputy Williams that (Torrey-White) was not the individual involved in the domestic disturbance”...

So that asserts that the deaf Torrey-White actively refused to speak with the deputy. That the deputy performed a "controlled" takedown. That "additional" facts were discovered that weren't obvious in the first place. (Such as the obvious facts that Torrey-White did not appear to be in his 30s, his clothes in no way matched the suspect's, and he was using a walker.)

Here's the same situation from Torrey-White's perspective. Remember — he's mostly deaf:

Multiple people called 911 on Feb. 28, 2020, to report a man trying to break out a vehicle’s windows...in a parking lot.... Torrey-White lived in an apartment complex near the parking lot, as did his adult daughter. They both had windows facing the parking lot where the incident happened.

His daughter called 911 because she saw a man “dodging a vehicle in the parking lot” and then “observed tire tracks from the vehicle very near her parked truck,” the complaint said. She asked her father to check on her parked truck.

Torrey-White, who has significant hearing loss, left his apartment without his hearing aids. He checked the tire tracks and his daughter’s truck and started walking back to his apartment.

“He suddenly felt a hand on his right arm from behind, which startled him” and Deputy Kyle Williams pushed Torrey-White into a brick wall, hitting his head and back against it, the lawsuit said.

Torrey-White regained consciousness and found himself on the ground in handcuffs. He asked what he’d done wrong and Williams told him to “Shut up,” the lawsuit said. Torrey-White screamed for his daughter, who came outside.

So the deputy spoke to the back of a deaf man, then grabbed his arm and threw him against a wall, causing him to become unconscious. The deputy described that action as a "controlled takedown." (Having dealt with cops when I was not the one they were investigating and been treated rudely by them, I can imagine the "shut up" is pretty accurate and possibly even a mild version of what was said.)

There's more in the Pioneer Press story about the actions of Deputy Williams and other deputies that happened after that, all reprehensible.

[Torrey-White's] lawsuit said “Williams later falsified his police report,” which caused Torrey-White to be charged with obstructing legal process and disorderly conduct. The county’s attorneys denied that the police report was falsified.

Of course, letting the claim of falsification go is part of getting the $75,000 settlement, but clearly the deputy did falsify the report in describing it as a controlled takedown and in other details about Torrey-White obstructing and being disorderly.

This is the sheriff's department of my county, run by a sheriff — Bob Fletcher — who should never be allowed in a public-supported job. 

The only part of it all that makes sense is that they're the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department: Alexander Ramsey would be proud.