Counterpoint: The truth about the ‘truth about the tragic actions of Derek Chauvin’

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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara seems determined to comment on and insert himself into the defamation lawsuit that Assistant Chief of Police Katie Blackwell brought against my clients — Liz Collin, Alpha News and JC Chaix. Since he apparently can’t help himself, here are the facts.

In the criminal trial against Derek Chauvin, Blackwell testified that the Minneapolis Police Department did not train officers to use a knee-on-neck restraint. Blackwell testified that she didn’t recognize Chauvin’s knee-on-neck restraint and that it was an “improvised position.”

Liz’s book “They’re Lying,” and her follow-up documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis,” showed that the MPD did train officers to use a knee-on-neck restraint, including as part of the maximal restraint technique (MRT) process. We provided numerous pictures of this training to the court, and more importantly, we provided sworn declarations from 34 MPD officers stating that the MPD trained officers to use knee-on-neck restraints, including as part of the MRT process. Of those, 14 officers declared that Blackwell committed perjury. Nevertheless, Blackwell sued for defamation.

O’Hara’s latest commentary not only fails to mention these dozens of MPD officers, but claims Alpha News and Liz are attacking Blackwell. Let’s remember who sued whom here. In the immortal words of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo, Blackwell drew “first blood.”

O’Hara would know this if Blackwell or he showed up for court. He would also know that I told the judge that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the Chauvin trial and everything to do with the First Amendment.

His choice to ignore the facts is one thing, but when juxtaposed against Minneapolis’ current conditions, his choice to write a commentary is astonishing.

While murders plummet nationwide, they are rising in Minneapolis. Businesses and workers are fleeing the city. Real estate is selling for pennies on the dollar. On a recent morning, a crime spree across the city resulted in multiple burglaries, a carjacking and an armed robbery.

Here’s some advice for O’Hara: He should close his laptop. Do his job. Foster the loyalty of his officers — believe me, he needs to. Fight crime, not Liz Collin. Spend more time with the officers keeping us safe instead of the Minneapolis institutional players that he repeatedly bends over backward to please. Engage with Minneapolis residents and business owners, like me, who are concerned about line cops and crime.

Chris Madel, of Minneapolis, is an attorney.