By Dominique Kato
MINNESOTA – Minneapolis police are currently under fire after the grisly murder of George Floyd. Now, law enforcement officers in the area are in hot water again after video surfaced, showing officers slashing the tires of cars near protests.
The slashing of car tires occurred during protests on May 30 and 31, and were previously thought to be the result of violent riots and looting.
However, it now appears that peace officers did it.
The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Troopers both confirmed this week that they were ordered to deflate tires in an attempt to control the protests. This acknowledgment comes only after videos of them in the act surfaced on social media.
These videos show officers in military attire slashing tires near a parking lot close to the protests. Before the videos gained media attention online, many blamed the act on protesters rather than the police.
News outlet Mother Jones published the video and photo images that show the officers puncturing the tires in a Kmart parking lot May 30 and on a highway overpass on May 31. It is not clear from the videos whether the individuals were county police officers or state troopers.
Almost all of the cars parked in the Kmart parking lot in Minneapolis had slashed tires, according to multiple reports from the scene.
Reports of the vehicles damaged by law enforcement show that they were not just owned by protesters but also by journalists and medics at the George Floyd demonstrations—those targeted are now asking why this tactic was used when curfew orders were in place, because a slashed tire prevents people from leaving.
Minneapolis Police slashed every tire on my rental car, as well as every tire of every car in this parking lot. pic.twitter.com/lchFplYQ0n
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) May 31, 2020
Andrew Kimmel, formerly the head of BuzzFeed’s video team, posted a video on twitter of the incident—all four tires on his rental car had been slashed. He stated, “Minneapolis Police slashed every tire on my rental car, as well as every tire of every car in this parking lot.”
Later in another tweet he stated, “There is now an admission from law enforcement + an excuse from the Dept of Public Safety. They jeopardized my safety by leaving me stranded & also left me with the bill for damage.”
Minneapolis Department of Public Safety’s spokesperson Bruce Gorden released a statement to the Star Tribune, which reported on the tire slashing issue, stating, “State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tires … in order to stop behaviors such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement.”
Gordon further stated, “Vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protests were occurring.”
Star Tribune further released a statement from Anoka County Sheriff’s Lt. Andy Knotz who stated that the deputies from Anoka County were following state orders, joining the patrol, and cutting tires on vehicles on Washington 
Avenue. “Towing the vehicles was not an option,” Knotz said, because “you could not get any tow trucks in there.”
On June 9 the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office sent out a press release stating, “The article published by the Star Tribune did not clearly articulate the decision-making process and overall picture of the situation.”
Their statements explained that the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota State Patrol acted under the authority of the Multi-Agency Command Center directed by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The order was given to deflate the tires and disable “illegally abandoned vehicles” inside the law enforcement boundaries and obstructing law enforcement operations.
“Two vehicles were illegally abandoned on the roadway of the bridge of S. Washington Ave. over I-35W. This procedure was done in order to preserve order, life, and safety of both the protestors and law enforcement that were present at this location,” said the Sheriff’s Office.
The statement stated that on May 31, Anoka County Sheriff’s Office personnel were present on S. Washington Ave. bridge over I-35W, and were actively working to restore order due to the protests and riot behaviors that were present.
“To reiterate, those two vehicles were illegally abandoned on the roadway and a potential hazard that could have been used as deadly mobile weapons as seen on previous days,” the Sheriff said.
The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Patrol only deflated the tires of those two specific vehicles, and the Kmart parking lot incident that was discussed in the Star Tribune article did not involve the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.
“We cannot comment if those were actions taken by other law enforcement agencies or others as we simply do not know the facts of that location,” explained the sheriff’s office.
The Minneapolis Police Department and Minnesota National Guard have denied their involvement in these incidents.
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So these cops should be shot dead, like Stephon Clark, right?