‘The precinct is on fire’: What happened at Minneapolis’ 3rd Precinct — and what it means
A timeline........
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/30/the-precinct-is-on-fire-what-happened-at-minneapolis-3rd-precinct-and-what-it-meansIt was 9:53 p.m. when a Minneapolis police officer sent out an urgent call to the other officers who remained in the 3rd Precinct.
“We need to move. We need to move,” he shouted over the police radio.
Protesters were breaking into the back of the station, and officers were preparing to take an unprecedented step in American policing: to abandon their precinct building.
“The front has been breached,” an officer called over the radio just before they fled. “They’re coming in. They’re coming in the back.”
In a dramatic exit, a squad car rammed through a gate near the station in south Minneapolis, leading a motorcade racing from the parking lot. Patrol officers in riot gear left on foot, hurrying past a jeering crowd hurling rocks and fireworks.
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Those who advocated for sacrificing the precinct hoped that it would cool tensions. They were wrong.
Friday night was even worse, even though that was the day the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Chauvin with murder.
“It did nothing to quell anything,” Sgt. Sherral Schmidt, a leader of the police union, said of abandoning the station.
Frey said that he can’t know if the outcome would have been different had he acted sooner or tried another strategy. “But, clearly, the murder of George Floyd has sparked a whole lot of anger and sadness,” he said.