Ethics complaints filed against Frey over Amir Locke killing

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey could face an ethics review after activists and clergy members delivered scores of complaints to City Hall on Friday raising concerns over his handling of the Amir Locke killing.

Chanting "Frey lied, Amir died," the activists climbed the stairs at City Hall and then delivered a storage container filled with neon paper containing signatures gathered after the launch of an online campaign dubbed the Residents' Complaint. Organizers said they had collected forms from more than 1,300 people. City officials had already acknowledged receiving "close to 30" complaints the day before.

"This is the first of many opportunities for us to hold Jacob Frey accountable," said Rod Adams, one of a handful of people who spoke at the event. One after the other, speakers raised concerns about Frey's handling of the killing, his campaign's false claim that he had banned no-knock warrants and a desire to see discipline for the officers involved in the search that led to Locke's death.

The mayor's office said they are confident he will prevail and the ethics complaints will be dismissed.

"Just as past politically motivated complaints were dismissed without merit during the last election, these baseless allegations will be recognized as such," Tara Niebeling, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement. "Mayor Frey is focused on partnering with community to enact policy reforms and bring stronger oversight to the department's release of public information."

The complaints come as Frey — two months into his second term — is facing renewed criticism of his handling of the Minneapolis Police Department after an officer fatally shot 22-year-old Locke while executing a no-knock warrant in connection with a homicide investigation. Locke's death re-energized a national debate about banning no-knock warrants and led local activists to call for the firing of the officer who fired the fatal shots, and the resignations of Frey and interim police Chief Amelia Huffman.

Police wrote in court documents unsealed this week that they had requested a no-knock warrant to ensure officer safety and preserve potential evidence in a St. Paul homicide investigation. Minneapolis SWAT officers stormed into the Bolero Apartments on Feb. 2 yelling "Search warrant!" without knocking, police body camera video showed. Locke was asleep on a couch under a blanket; he stirred after an officer kicked the couch. He had a gun in his right hand and was shot within seconds.

The ethics complaint focuses on three areas. It says Frey and Huffman "intentionally and recklessly misrepresented the facts" of the case, including when the Police Department referred to Locke as a suspect four times in a news release. No records indicate that Locke was thought to be involved in the homicide that prompted police to execute the no-knock search warrant.

The complaint notes that Frey has authority over the Police Department under the city's charter and says he "has violated and continues to violate his duty to the public in allowing this murder to go without discipline and discharge." City officials have said Mark Hanneman, the officer who shot Locke, was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.

The ethics complaint also says there was "a massive failure to exercise judgment to further the best interest of the city" when Minneapolis police insisted on a no-knock search warrant, despite St. Paul's initial application for a standard warrant that would have required officers to announce themselves.

"This lethal failure to exercise appropriate discretion led to the extrajudicial execution of Amir Locke, an innocent man, and added to the existing community trauma from the ongoing excessive use of force by the MPD," the complaint says. "The Mayor is in control of the Minneapolis Police Department and must be held accountable for its ethics violations, both in the case of Amir Locke, as well as in the case of the various other police brutality violations of his MPD."

In keeping with its typical protocols, the city said it will dismiss duplicative complaints and in the end review just one.

The city's ethics officer, Susan Trammell, will conduct an initial review and can dismiss any complaints that are "duplicative of another complaint, untimely or not meriting further investigation on their face or solely involving aspirational sections of the [ethics] code."

If Trammell dismisses a complaint, the city's Ethical Practices Board — which consists of people appointed by the county's chief judge and the deans of two law schools — can uphold or reject her decision. If the board sustains the complaint, it provides recommendations for sanctions and refers the matter to the City Council. The process could include an investigation and hearings.