Mpls PD guns down man in front of his friend

[TheeBadOne]

Minneapolis man killed by police officer

A 21-year-old Minneapolis man was shot and killed early Saturday by a Minneapolis police officer tagging cars in north Minneapolis, police officials said.

Benjamin Gene Decoteau, a suspect in two violent crimes during the past two years, was walking with an acquaintance near the intersection of 26th and Upton Avenues N., in the Willard-Hay neighborhood, when the incident occurred, police said.

The second man, a 27-year-old from Minneapolis, was arrested at the scene, officers said.

At a late-morning news conference, Police Chief William McManus declined to identify the officer, saying that he was still asleep and that McManus did not want his name in the news until he had a chance to consult with him. The officer joined the department in 1990, McManus said, and is on administrative leave, standard procedure in police-involved shootings.

The officer saw one of the men carrying what appeared to be a rifle or shotgun, McManus said, and made a move to check out what was going on. When he did so, one of the men began to fire, missing the officer but striking the windshield of the police van, according to homicide commander Lee Edwards. The officer returned fire, fatally wounding the shooter, and arrested the other man. A shotgun and handgun were found at the scene.

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[M.T. Pockets]

This officer deserves a medal. That second thug is very lucky the officer had the cool to stop shooting at the threat.

[TheeBadOne]

Cousin: DeCoteau fired at officer first

On the night that he died in north Minneapolis, Benjamin DeCoteau vowed that he would shoot a police officer, his cousin said in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Hennepin County.

The police officer shot and killed DeCoteau, 21, of Minneapolis, at about 3:20 a.m. Saturday after DeCoteau shot first, said defendant Dana Blue-David Dickenson, of Blaine. Dickenson, 27, is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, a felony.

The criminal complaint doesn't name the officer, but police union president Sgt. John Delmonico identified him Sunday as Mark Beaupre, who joined the force in 1990.

Before the shooting, Dickenson said, he had driven his aunt's car in north Minneapolis while DeCoteau fired shots. When the car got stuck in the snow, Dickenson and DeCoteau began walking. Dickenson carried a shotgun and DeCoteau had a 9 mm pistol, the complaint said.

When they encountered a police officer in a van at 26th and Upton Avs. N., DeCoteau fired first at the officer, Dickenson said in the complaint. In response to the Dickenson complaint, Clyde Bellecourt, a leader in the American Indian community in Minneapolis, said Tuesday: "This young man's confession sounds like it covers it."

But Bellecourt, a member of the Police Community Relations Council, said it was not appropriate for police to say publicly that DeCoteau was a gang member and had been involved in assaults for which he was not charged.

"In America, you're innocent until proven guilty. If you're an American Indian, it's the other way around," Bellecourt said.

Council member Ron Edwards said Tuesday of the complaint against Dickenson: "This confirms what I've been saying the last couple of days. Regrettably, a life has been lost, but the officer was justified in the shooting."


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