- Police Brutality Watch

World War II Veteran Pepper Sprayed & Beaten after Traffic Stop

Police said they are investigating an incident in which an officer pepper-sprayed an 85-year-old man during a traffic stop. Leon Nins said officer Michael Lee also beat him after he took too long to stop his car. Police deny that and say Nins attacked Lee. Leaders of St. Paul's NAACP chapter and St. Paul African American Leadership Council alleged that race was a factor. Nins is black. Nins said at a news conference Thursday that he was bringing sandwiches and cupcakes to his wife during his daily visit to her nursing home Dec. 27 when Lee tried to pull him over for having expired license tabs. Nins, a World War II veteran who stands about 5-feet-7 and weighs 145 pounds, claims Lee was angry that he didn't stop his car right away. "I told him, 'If I'd have seen you, I would have stopped,' Nins said earlier. "He got really mad about that. He told me to get in his car, and he started beating me on the leg and on the side of the arm. He pushed me down on the floor, and he was slamming the door on my legs." "I didn't see him," Nins said Wednesday. "Even when he pulled up to me, the [police] car wasn't marked so I didn't know if he was an officer right away." Nins was arrested and jailed for two days. The Ramsey County Attorney's Office declined to charge him with a felony, but prosecutors still could bring a lesser charge. Groups who claim that race played a role cited a 2001 shooting in which Lee was cleared of wrongdoing. Charles Craighead had taken a gun from a man trying to carjack him. Lee mistook Craighead, who was black, for the carjacker, and shot him to death. [more] and [more] and [more]

"He was raising his hands, all red and tempered," Nins said. "He took my bag and threw it into the street." Nins said he confronted Lee, asking, "What are you doing with my wife's food?" The question seemed to make Lee more angry, Nins said. Lee then ordered Nins to get into the squad car. "He told me to get in right now," Nins said. "I told him that I couldn't move that fast."

Pictured above: Leon Nins, 85, wipes away a tear after he described the events that led him to accuse a St. Paul police Officer of abuse during a traffic stop.

African-American leaders demand firing, prosecution of St. Paul police officer. Despite calls from community leaders for discipline and criminal charges against the St. Paul police officer accused of beating an 85-year-old man, Police Chief John Harrington says that judging by what he has seen so far, he is standing behind officer Michael Lee. "If the evidence continues to come forward as it is right now, I do not believe he acted brutally. I do not believe that he acted with excessive force," Harrington said. "I have no intention of either suspending him or reassigning him to an administrative assignment at this time." [more]