From [HERE] Documents obtained by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS show missteps by police that led to a black man being bitten by a K-9 officer and kicked by a police officer this past June.
A settlement agreement written by St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell to K-9 Officer Brian Ficcadenti outlined the evening of June 24. Video of the incident was released Friday for the first time.
The incident happened just after 10 p.m. June 24 on the 1800 block of East Seventh Street in St. Paul.
During a news conference Friday afternoon, St. Paul Police Public Information Officer Sgt. Mike Ernster said police were responding to a fight involving a large group of people and were told one person had a gun.
The person with the gun was described as a black man with dreadlocks who had been wearing a white T-shirt, according to the settlement agreement.
According to Ficcadenti’s report, which is outlined in the settlement agreement, Ficcadenti saw people “scatter in multiple directions” and did not see any weapons or fighting when he arrived. Ficcadenti drove around the block and came to an alley, where he saw a row of parked cars with a black man sitting in one car talking on the phone.
“You reported that you believed because the male was black, had dreadlocks and was wearing a white T-shirt, he was the person who was in possession of a gun,” the settlement agreement states.
The documents say Ficcadenti said he ordered the man to put his hands in the air but that the man only put one hand up.
“You reported he did not comply with your orders and you released your dog believing he was ‘about to pull a firearm on you’ and that it was necessary to prevent a ‘lethal force encounter,’” the document says.
The K-9 officer apprehended the man, and other officers arrived at the scene. They told the man to keep his hands visible, but he either could not or would not comply, Ernster said.
One of the responding officers then kicked the man in the ribs three times, police say.
The man was handcuffed and found to be needing medical attention. The man was taken to Regions Hospital, where he spent two weeks recovering. The man's attorney says the man had serious bites to his leg, multiple broken ribs and collapsed lungs.
Police say no gun was found on the man or in the surrounding scene.
“The decisions and conclusions you made are troubling,” Axtell wrote in the settlement agreement. “You responded to anonymous information about a fight and man with a gun. No witness ever identified this citizen or his vehicle as being involved to you or any other officer and he was three apartment buildings away from the original call location.”
“According to your report and statement, the citizen was never seen with a gun nor did he display any aggression toward you,” Axtell continued in the report. “The entire interaction from when you gave the first verbal command until releasing your K-9 partner was less than 20 seconds.”
Axtell said Ficcadenti’s tactical decisions weren’t consistent with his police training nor his specialty K-9 training. He also said Ficcadenti’s decision to release the K-9 and run toward the citizen with his firearm in his holster was “reckless at best” and created a hazard for Ficcadenti and the assisting officers.
Ficcadenti was suspended for 30 days even though a civilian review commission recommended 10 days. He will also not return to the K-9 unit. [would he still have his job if this happened to a white person?]
Friday afternoon Axtell called a news conference to apologize to the public.
"I am disappointed and upset by what the video shows," he said.
"I want you to know the content of this video does not reflect the way we do our job day in and day out. It isn't the St. Paul way," Axtell said.