Imagine you’re running from someone and they shoot you 3 times, then another 5 times after you fall to the ground. Imagine your killer is awarded the Medal of Valor for murdering you. This is not made-up story, this is the true story of the police murder of 19-year-old Fong Lee…
Fong Lee verdict sparks protest in front of the Hmong Professional Building in St. Paul
WE ARE ALL FONG LEE!!!
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_12487044
The Hmong kid was young, perhaps 10 or 12, and the hand-lettered sign he held up as he stood along University Avenue was meant to get motorists’ attention.
“Fong Lee = Me,” read the sign.
More than 200 people gathered Saturday afternoon for a rally protesting this week’s finding by a jury that a Minneapolis police officer didn’t use excessive force when he shot Fong Lee eight times and killed him in 2006.
“The verdict said the police officer did nothing wrong. Do you guys believe that?” Fong Lee’s cousin, Cha Yia Lee, asked the group.
His question was met with shouts of “No!”
The rally, sponsored by a coalition of community groups, took place in a parking lot at the corner of University Avenue and Marion Street in St. Paul. Many carried signs as they stood along the street, and the air was filled with the sound of car horns as passing motorists honked their support.
A St. Paul Fire Department ladder truck blew its air horn as it went past.
The group was protesting not just the verdict, but what they claimed was an unfair trial that ended Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. They claimed the judge added insult to injury by reading the verdict without waiting for Fong Lee’s parents, siblings or other family members, who had sat throughout the weeklong trial, to return from lunch.
They learned of the verdict from a reporter.
Fong Lee’s mother and father, Youa Vang Lee and Nou Kai Lee, were among those at the rally. Youa Vang Lee wore a sandwich sign and stood on the median in the center of University Avenue as cars, trucks and buses whizzed by or stopped at the stoplight.
“If we can’t trust cops, who can we trust?” one of her signs read.
Fong Lee, 19, was shot and killed July 22, 2006, by Minneapolis police officer Jason Andersen. The officer had chased the teen on foot and claimed Fong Lee was carrying a gun in his right hand and was starting to raise it in the officer’s direction.
Andersen, 32, shot Fong Lee three times while he was running, then shot him five more times after he had fallen to the ground. He testified that the teen had refused his orders to drop the gun, which was later found lying three feet beyond Fong Lee’s outstretched left hand.
But lawyers for Fong Lee’s family argued the teen was unarmed. Among the evidence they presented were photos from a surveillance video that caught the last seconds of the chase. Even though Andersen is farther away from the camera, his gun is clearly visible, but there is no obvious gun or dark object in Fong Lee’s right hand.
The family lawyers contended that the gun — a pistol reported stolen in a 2004 burglary — was planted by police.
But under the law and legal precedents, the all-white jury of eight men and four women didn’t have to consider whether Fong Lee was armed or not. It was a matter of what Andersen perceived the threat to be, and Judge Paul Magnuson instructed the jurors that if a “reasonable officer on the scene, without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, would have used such force under similar circumstances,” then the force wasn’t excessive.
Al Flowers, a longtime community activist and current Minneapolis mayoral candidate, told the rally that members of the family had had a conference with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and asked for a federal inquiry.
Flowers said the Minneapolis Urban League would take public testimony at a couple of hearings in June to provide to Ellison, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis.
After the verdict cleared Andersen, Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan issued a statement calling the allegations of wrongdoing “inflammatory” and said he hoped “that we can all move forward and heal as a community.”
But many at the rally said Dolan’s comments were insulting and that they believed police had long mistreated minorities, including the Hmong.
“I felt that justice failed us, and I feel there ain’t nothing going to happen with it,” said Jon Xiong, 28, of St. Paul. “I got little brothers and cousins and nephews, and it could’ve easily have been them. From my point of view, as a minority, it really ain’t no good. That’s all I can say. It ain’t no good.”
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 PM
There are claims that the gun was planted or a “throw-down” gun, but these claims have no merit.
Many people try to point out the lack of fingerprints, blood, or other residue on the gun linking it to Fong, as if it were some kind of conspiracy. But the people saying this aren’t revealing anything except that they know nothing about forensics. There is a simple explanation for all of this. First, the fingerprints. It is common knowledge in investigative fields that you can NOT lift latent prints from a heavily textured surface. Guess what? The grip of a gun is a HEAVLIY TEXTURED SURFACE, so it is perfectly reasonable that no prints were found. It is simply not possible. Also, the lack of blood can be explained simply by the fact that blood doesn’t spurt everywhere immediately after someone is shot. Unless a major artery is hit, there simply isn’t going to be a lot of blood everywhere, except for where bullets entered and possibly exited the body. People who work in investigations know this, whereas the conspiracy theoroists clearly do not.
Also, people like to point out that it is not clearly visible whether or not Fong had a gun in the surveillance video. They say that since the officer’s gun is visible, why isn’t Fong’s gun visible? Once again, this is easily explainable. Minneapolis Police carry large duty weapons, which are NOT meant to be concealed. Fong’s gun however, a SMALL .380 caliber pistol, is TINY in comparison and extremely easy to conceal. It is perfectly reasonable that a large duty gun would be visible in a grainy surveillance video, but a small pistol designed for concealment would not.
Another issue people complain about is the number of shots used to take down Fong. People who complain about this clearly have ZERO knowledge of handgun ballistic/effectiveness and the law regarding use of deadly force. First, police officers and private citizens with carry permits are taught that if their life, or the life of another is threatened, to shoot and continue shooting at center mass until the threat is gone. Even if the suspect has fallen the the ground but still has control of a weapon or is trying to reach a weapon, deadly force is still allowed under law, and rightfully so. A suspect with a handgun, or even reaching for a handgun, is clearly a deadly threat.
Second, handguns are notoriously poor “fight stoppers.” There are numerous records of suspects who have been shot MANY more times than Fong was, and lived to tell the tale. You will also notice I said they are trained to shoot at CENTER MASS (the chest.) Some people have said he should have tried shooting Fong in the leg, which is ridiculous Hollywood non-sense. Shooting at a narrow target like a leg is incredibly difficult, even if the target is immobile and and at close range. People who suggest that watch too many movies, and clearly have never shot a gun, especially under stressful conditions.
There is so much more I could add, but I think this is more than enough for now. Until people understand what I have written here, they really aren’t informed enough to participate in a debate like this.