3 Mpls. cops cited in Apple Valley bar fight; racial slurs alleged

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Three Minneapolis police officers were cited for assault in Apple Valley last year after a fight in which the officers, who are white, were among a group of white men who followed a group of black men into a bar parking lot, knocking one of them down and beating him, according to a police report obtained Thursday by the Star Tribune.

A racial slur was used against the black man during the attack, the report said.

The officers, William C. Woodis, Christopher J. Bennett, and Andrew R. Allen, followed the men as they left Bogart?s Place, a bar on Garrett Avenue, according to police report. A security camera video shows the off-duty officers and the others follow the departing black men into the parking lot, the report said. The action then moved out of view of the camera. The video was not immediately available.

A lawyer for the three officers ?disputed that characterization of the encounter, saying his clients didn?t chase anyone down, didn?t use racial slurs and that the video shows that the alleged victims were the first to get physical, pushing one of the officers.

The Star Tribune learned about the altercation this week from a source. At the time of the original incident, the Apple Valley report didn?t identify any of the men involved as ?Minneapolis police officers.

The case comes to light less than a week after two Minneapolis police officers were suspended over a similar incident June 29 outside a bar in Green Bay, Wis. In both cases, the officers involved were disrespectful toward local police who responded.

All five officers from the two cases are under Internal Affairs investigations.

One of the victims in the Apple Valley incident, Rodney Spann, told the Star Tribune on Thursday that the group of white men shouted racial slurs while beating his uncle, Mike Spann. He said they slammed his uncle against two vehicles in the parking lot and knocked him to the ground before kicking and punching him. Rodney Spann tried to break up the fight but was hit in the face by Woodis, according to the report.

?The white guys were on the attack,? said Jon Bjork, the witness who related the event to Apple Valley police. Bjork, a 70-year-old white man, said he didn?t know anyone in either group.

In the Green Bay case, officers Brian Thole and Shawn Powell, used racial and sexual slurs while berating the Green Bay police officers who showed up to investigate. One of the Minneapolis officers said he felt threatened by a black man with whom he had exchanged heated words and punched him in the face, igniting a brawl.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/south/218014321.html

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