Minneapolis to pay $50K to man shoved to the ground while filming police

The Minneapolis City Council has agreed to pay a $50,000 settlement to a man who alleged two police officers violated his constitutional rights by shoving him to the ground while he filmed them, one of three police-related payouts approved by the council Thursday.

Body-camera footage from the incident shows the officers on a rainy street in south Minneapolis on April 22, 2022, asking Said Abdullahi to move out of the road. As Abdullahi films with his cell phone, one of the officers, identified in the civil complaint as Daniel Barlow, pushes him. The second officer, Sergio Villegas, approaches from behind and shoves Abdullahi, sending him toppling backward to the street.

In his police report, Villegas acknowledged he “pushed Abdullahi to the sidewalk,” but said “Abdullahi lost his footing and fell down.”

The video shows Villegas pushing Abdullahi forcefully to the ground.

The officers took Abdullahi to jail and cited him for misdemeanor disorderly conduct. After spending three nights in jail, the charges were ultimately dropped.

Abdullahi filed a lawsuit in November in Minnesota U.S. District Court naming Villegas, Barlow and the city of Minneapolis. The suit says the officers used their official capacity to deprive him of his First and Fourth amendment rights, including taking him to jail in an “effort to cover up their unlawful conduct.” It describes the officers’ conduct as a “widespread custom” of Minneapolis police to retaliate against people who film them, citing charges of a pattern of free-speech violations brought by the Justice Department against Minneapolis this summer, as well as other use-of-force allegations against Villegas.

According to the lawsuit:

Abdullahi’s car stalled near S 19th Avenue and Franklin Frontage Road, in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

Abdullahi asked a man in a parked car for a jump start, and the man responded with hostility, threatening him with a “knife and a baseball bat” and calling 911. Abdullahi showed the man he had Mace “to defend himself.”

Villegas and Barlow arrived and Barlow talked to the still-agitated 911 caller in his car. Barlow told the man “there’s obviously no threat here,” and that Abdullahi was “just an idiot.”

Abdullahi eventually asked to speak with the officers’ supervisor, and they mocked him, calling him “[expletive] stupid.” Abdullahi recorded the conversation because he felt he was being “treated unfairly.”

Barlow pushed Abdullahi. When Abdullahi said he wanted to press charges for assault, Villegas approached and “violently pushed Abdullahi to the pavement” with “punitive intent.”

The council also voted Thursday to pay $115,000 to Mai Vue Thao, whose car was struck by a Minneapolis Canine Squad vehicle.

Thao had the right of way and was attempting a left turn in Brooklyn Park when the squad car pulled out and caused a collision, according to a summary of the incident attached to the City Council agenda. Thao’s vehicle “sustained significant damage” and Thao suffered a fractured patella, meniscus tear and injuries to the chest, abdomenand neck.

A third settlement of $7,500 will be paid to Kristine Barfknecht, who alleges Minneapolis officers “used unreasonable force” by removing her from her vehicle and taking her to the snowy ground, according to a council summary.