Blaine council member's misconduct, ethics charges trigger special session

The Blaine City Council on Thursday will meet in special session to talk about comments that Council Member Richard Paul allegedly made in connection with misdemeanor charges he faces for threatening police officers who arrested his son and vowing to have them fired.

Mayor Tim Sanders called the meeting after learning about comments Paul allegedly made Monday in a private Facebook posting while interacting with a resident. Sanders did not specify what was said, but if verified, "the statements are troubling coming from a council member. We are working on verifying and reviewing those statements."

The topic will be the lone item on Thursday's agenda, the mayor said.

Paul, 52, declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.

Thursday's meeting is the latest development after charges against Paul recently came to light. Paul was charged in January with one count of misconduct of a public officer or employee and one count of violating a code of ethics-standard of conduct for attempting to use his position to secure special privileges.

The charges came after Paul's son, who was 20 at the time, was stopped for riding a bicycle without working headlamps or reflectors just before 10 p.m. on Nov. 3 in Blaine. . The officer discovered there was a warrant for his arrest stemming from a theft charge from April 2020, according to charges filed in Anoka County District Court.

A second officer arrived at the scene and the officers called Paul, who is Black, to tell him of the arrest and ask if he wanted to come to the scene to retrieve his son's bicycle so it would not be impounded. During the call, Paul instructed officers to bring his son home, the charges said. When the officers told Paul they could not, Paul threatened them saying, "I'm going to call the chief, and you gonna be out of work" before he hung up, the complaint said.

Paul then drove to the scene and demanded the officers release his son, the complaint said. When officers refused, Paul allegedly responded, "you're out of work."

Officers told Paul he could come to the jail and bail his son out. Paul then told the officers, "If I go tonight, you're both going to jail," the complaint said.

Paul pulled his car into the center of Ulysses Street and once more insisted officers release his son. "It's going to be easy or it's not going to be easy," Paul allegedly said before leaving the scene, the charges state.

Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany, in an interview Tuesday, defended his officers' handling of the stop and its aftermath. He said it was not a pretextual stop and added the video shows the officer was unable to tell if the bicyclist was white or Black or a man or woman until contact was made. The department does not keep data on how many bicyclists are stopped, but two white bicyclists were stopped in similar circumstances last year and arrested for having outstanding warrants.

Paul's son was carrying a backpack and was wearing dark clothing in a poorly lit area when he was stopped, Podany said.

"There was a concern with safety at night with no lights," he said. "We had had a surge in thefts [at the time]. We do proactive work here."

The stop was cordial and professional, Podany said, and only became adversarial when Paul got involved. That is confirmed in the video, the chief said. The video is considered private data, but Paul could authorize police to release it, he added.

Paul continues to serve on the City Council. The city's charter does not provide authority for the council to independently remove an individual member, according to a statement Sanders made at Monday's City Council meeting.

The mayor said the city has "confusing and limiting language" in the city charter around member removal. He is asking that an amendment be crafted to allow for citizens to recall council members if their conduct rises to that level.

Paul's term expires Dec. 31.

"I and all my colleagues support the decision of the Blaine Police Department to have an independent prosecutor review this case," the mayor said. "We continue to support our Police Department and our officers who serve this community with professionalism, integrity and respect."

Paul has been assigned a court date of May 11.