Rickia Russell was paid $1 million after a police flashbang seared her legs.

​The city of Minneapolis paid $4.7 million in 2011 for settlements and liability claims involving the police department, making it the biggest year for police-related payouts since 2007, according to data maintained by the city.

The $4.7 million comes from 32 different cases. Four of these stem from incidents dating all the way back to 2003 and 2004, but the rest took place during Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan's tenure.

A payment of $1 million went to Rickia Russell. In February 2010, police officers threw a flashbang grenade into Russell's boyfriend's house, and the explosion seared her legs with third-degree burns.
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The flash-bang grenade caused third-degree burns to Rickia Russell's calf.

​At around 8:30 p.m., two days after Valentine's last year, Rickia Russell was at her boyfriend's home. It was a week after her birthday, and they were settled in for the night with a friend. They drank vodka and dug into a steaming pot of jambalaya.

The apartment, at 5753 Sanders Drive in south Minneapolis, wasn't exactly a luxury building. Drug dealers used the lobby as their office. So when Russell heard footsteps pounding down the hallway, she didn't think much of it.

Suddenly, she heard a loud boom. The front door of the apartment swung open. Cops holding a battering ram stood in the gap. An officer in a helmet, goggles, and riot gear stood at the threshold. He looked right at her and, with an underhanded toss, lobbed a flash-bang grenade. More >>

Joseph Peschges was arrested in a sex sting after a cop encouraged his groping.

​St. Paul has been cracking down on public stranger sex in recent years. Trolling public parks, they've nabbed dozens of men who were down for a little of this and a little of that.

But one judge just ruled that the cops have been using inappropriate tactics in their sting operations. Namely, the cops are pretending to be, you know, into it.

Duane Hodges, a St. Anthony man arrested last summer for indecent exposure in Crosby Farms Park, was acquitted last month when a judge ruled that because Hodges had exposed himself in the privacy of an undercover officer's car, and the officer had portrayed himself as a willing participant, Hodges wasn't guilty of anything.

In other words, if two men park in a relatively private spot, and one man asks the other to pull down his pants, there is, to paraphrase George Constanza, there's nothing wrong with that.
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The budget proposal would cut five officers who help prevent crime before it happens.

​Mayor R.T. Rybak's proposed $4.4 million reduction in growth to the police department is stirring up some concerns in southwest Minneapolis.

Community members are upset that the proposed budget would cut five of the department's 17 crime prevention specialists. These are the officers who supplement the beat cops by working with residents, businesses, and neighborhood organizations to prevent crimes before they happen.

"I think it would be a disaster from a public safety standpoint," says Mark Hinds, executive director of the Lyndale Neighborhood Association.

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Recardo Meeks' fourth amendment rights were violated by the strip seach, a judge says.

Photo courtesy Andrew muller.

​Two Minneapolis police officers conducted an illegal strip search on a man during a traffic stop in March 2009, according to a Minnesota Supreme Court opinion issued this week.

The order states that officers David O'Connor and Daniel Anderson violated the Fourth Amendment rights of Recardo Meeks by pulling down his pants and making him bend over on the side of the road.

"Certainly, if the Constitution means anything, it's that when you get stopped for a traffic violation, you're not going to end up next to an apartment building with the police pulling your pants down," says Andrew Muller, attorney for Meeks. "There's no reason that this had to happen in public, and that's what the judge is saying."

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So far, so nice for Occupy MN.

​In a series of meetings held over the past couple of days, Occupy MN organizers have received tentative approval for their plans to camp out in the Hennepin County Government Center plaza starting tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The plaza is public property, but organizers still met with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department and the Minneapolis Police Department to discuss their plans. The protestors are converging in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement going on in New York City, and could be there for days if not weeks.

For now, at least, it appears all parties are playing it Minnesota-nice.

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Nicole Salazar caught the cop on tape moments before he knocked her to the ground.

​That Nicole Salazar videotaped her arrest is both fortunate and unfortunate.

It's fortunate because that same tape just helped Salazar, a producer for the Democracy Now! news show, and two other journalists win a settlement in their lawsuit against the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul for bad police work during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

It's unfortunate because in the course of the lawsuit, Salazar was forced to watch the disturbing tape again. Anjana Samnat, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights who brought the case for Democracy Now!,  said she'd been in the room when the tape was played.

"When you looked at Nicole's face during the playing of the video," Samant said, "you could just see her cringe."

The settlement reached yesterday brings monetary compensation to the three journalists, including host Amy Goodman. Perhaps more important, it will force a change in St. Paul Police's official tactics in dealing with large crowds.
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Katherine Gordon, shot and killed on I-394, had said she should be "locked up."

​Katherine Gordon, the woman shot and killed by a Golden Valley Police officer during a traffic stop on Interstate 394 last week, had a previous run-in with area police. The details are weird enough that it's making some wonder if she should've been walking or driving around anywhere, let alone in possession of a handgun.

In July, Gordon attempted to turn herself into Edina police, explaining that she thought she could be a danger to herself and others. Police took her to the Fairview Southdale Hospital, where she was admitted on her own volition, according to the Star Tribune.

Gordon explained to police that she'd just moved to Minnesota from California, and that something was bothering her. Namely, she thought there was a spirit inside her which might be "the spirit of the devil," she said.
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The details of the incident are still under wraps.

​Katherine Gordon, a 58-year-old woman from California who'd recently moved to Minnesota, has been identified as the woman shot and killed by a Golden Valley Police officer after she was pulled over on I-394.

Gordon's identity was released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, which announced Gordon's identity on Friday, and said she'd died after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. She was killed around 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, after an officer pulled her over near Hopkins Crossroad.

Golden Valley Police Department issued a statement that day stating that the driver had been "in possession of a handgun" at the time of the shooting, but since then the department, and the Hennepin County Sherriff's Office, which is investigating the event, have gone mum with new details.

Gordon's roommate, Charmane Schodde, gave an interview to WCCO in which she described Gordon as someone who "would never hurt anybody."
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Jonathan Jacobson was arrested for driving under the influence in 2009.

​A night of partying can turn ugly fast.

For Rochester man Jonathan Jacobson, getting pulled over after drinking beer and taking Ecstasy was just the beginning.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this week, Jacobson says two deputies at the Olmsted County jail made him strip naked and show them every intimate corner of his body without any reason to believe he was hiding contraband. The suit alleges the two deputies inflicted emotional trauma and violated his constitutional rights, and now Jacobson wants them to pay for it.

Jacobson was arrested on September 12, 2009 -- three days before his 19th birthday -- for driving under the influence. Olmsted County deputy James McCormick patted Jacobson down at the scene, but didn't find any weapons or drugs, according to the complaint.

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