Minneapolis
Suburb Tried Not To Call Cops... It Doesn't Go Well
Wed Jun 24, 2020
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The progressive revolution in
Minneapolis.
After the death of George
Floyd at the hands of the police, Ms. Albers, who is white, and many of
her progressive neighbors have vowed to avoid calling law enforcement into
their community. Doing so, they believed, would add to the pain that black
residents of Minneapolis were feeling and could put them in danger.
For decades, the community has been
a refuge for scrappy working-class activists with far-left politics. The
biggest day of the year, locals often boast, is the May Day parade celebrating
laborers.
And you'll never guess what happened
next.
Mitchell Erickson’s fingers began
dialing 911 last week before he had a chance to even consider alternatives,
when two black teenagers who looked to be 15, at most, cornered him outside his
home a block away from the park.
One of the boys pointed a
gun at Mr. Erickson’s chest, demanding his car keys.
Flustered, Mr. Erickson handed over
a set, but it turned out to be house keys. The
teenagers got frustrated and ran off, then stole a different car down the
street.
Mr. Erickson said later that he
would not cooperate with prosecutors in a case against the boys. After the
altercation, he realized that if there was anything he wanted, it was to offer
them help. But he still felt it had been right to call the authorities because
there was a gun involved.
Two days after an initial
conversation, his position had evolved.
“Been thinking more about it,” he
wrote in a text message. “I regret calling the police. It was my instinct, but
I wish it hadn’t been. I put those boys in danger of death by calling the
cops.”
“I haven’t been forced to think like
this before. So, I would have lost my car. So what? At least no one would have
been killed.”
