BREAKING NEWS March 18, 2024: The ACLU of Minnesota filed an amicus brief today asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to suppress evidence that was found when police frisked four boys because of an officer's hunch about "proximity."
Four Black boys were at a Little Caesar's in Minneapolis when they looked out a window at police arriving to arrest an unrelated 47-year-old Somali man.
The 47-year-old had allegedly pointed a gun at someone at a light rail station a block away. Police called the man outside and searched him but found no gun. Police went inside and frisked the boys based on their "training and experience" that people can pass along guns to "evade detection." One of the boys was charged for having a weapon.
In a friend-of-the-court brief, the ACLU-MN and Minnesota Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers are asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to suppress that evidence because an officer's hunch about “proximity” doesn't justify seizing and searching someone. Especially when that hunch is based on police training and experience infected with racial bias that results in disproportionately stopping, searching, arresting and using force against people of color and Indigenous people.
All Minnesotans deserve policing practices that are fair and effective, that keep people safe, and that uphold the Constitution. Not just based on a hunch and being near someone.
