Law enforcement authorities have been caught on camera slashing tires near protests in Minneapolis over George Floyd 's killing, with news showing that the cars belonged not only to protesters, but also to medical responders and members of the press.
Officers from the Office of the Anoka County Sheriff and Minnesota State Troopers have been directed to deflate tires as part of measures to contain the unrest, the agencies have reported. The acknowledgment comes after footage were shared online showing law enforcement officers clad in military uniforms slashing tires at a car park near the protests.
Police applied the method to disable vehicles at a Kmart parking space that had become a gathering area for demonstrators and police, and about three miles away at another street location - with hundreds of vehicles reported to be destroyed.
In the videos the Star Tribune identified officers from the Minnesota State Patrol and the Anoka County Sheriff. A spokesperson with the Department of Public Safety told the State Patrol newspaper that law enforcers intentionally deflated tires in order to prevent the vehicles from driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and authorities.
The spokesperson added that the tire knifing was carried out to render ineffective any vehicles which may contain objects used to cause injuries during the demonstration.
Anoka County Sheriff's Lt. Andy Knotz said the tactic was done under orders from the Multiagency Command Center coordinating law enforcement during demonstrations. According to the command center, police could not tow the vehicles because the law enforcers could not send any tow trucks in the area.
A tow truck driver told Andrew Kimmel, a Los Angeles TV and documentary creator whose rental car tires were strategically slashed, that his towing business had received numerous calls from everybody, like medics, media crews and random people, asking for assistance because their tires where jabbed with knives.
The state's multi-agency command group disclosed in its initial report on the May 30 incident at the Kmart that thousands of state and local police officers as well as the State National Guard had changed their strategies to take a different tactic in maintaining peace during the mayhem.
Report from the command center identified how police forces were being prepositioned near potential trouble hotspots. The method of disabling vehicles was not mentioned.
Meanwhile, spokespersons for the National Guard, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and Minneapolis Police Department denied that it was not their personnel who were filmed knifing tires in videos and photos that are spreading on social media.
