Minnesota State Troopers and deputies from the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office thought it was a good idea to slash tires of unoccupied parked cars during a protest in Minneapolis. Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bruce Gordon said the officers slashed tires of cars to “stop behaviors such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement,” which is odd because cars parked in a Kmart parking lot can't move. The cops also said they disabled cars that “contained items used to cause harm during violent protests” like rocks and pieces of concrete, but according to Mother Jones, the drivers included "protesters, news crews, and medics."
From Mother Jones:
“We’re so busy, it’s just unbelievable,” said a tow truck driver in an interview from the K-Mart parking lot with Andrew Kimmel, formerly the head of BuzzFeed’s video team. The towing company had received “call after call after call.” Asked whose cars were being towed, the tow truck driver said, “Everybody. Medics over there. News crews. Random people that were just here to protest and—tires slashed.”
‼️THE POLICE SLASHED THIS TRUCKS TIRES‼️ all the protestors left the Kmart area as soon as they got closer. #MinneapolisRiot pic.twitter.com/eTGrHUUZLA
— brandi (@brandiiimariiie) May 31, 2020
Minneapolis Police slashed every tire on my rental car, as well as every tire of every car in this parking lot. pic.twitter.com/lchFplYQ0n
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) May 31, 2020
Radio-Canada journalists covering the protests in Minneapolis had their tires slashed. Witnesses told them police did it. https://t.co/9YwfcClMoq
— Sean Craig (@sdbcraig) May 31, 2020
Cops in Minneapolis shot my friend, the photographer @philip_nyc, in the chest, with a rubber bullet, causing bruising over his heart. They also slashed his tires.
Follow his work here: https://t.co/xF8CtHXE8l pic.twitter.com/JzOd2GogKY
— Ben Taub (@bentaub91) June 2, 2020
This tow truck driver has been here all day. He later told me four @CNN vehicles had their tires slashed here as well. There was an entire row of press vehicles that all had to be towed. pic.twitter.com/LG40yxlrde
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) May 31, 2020
Image: YouTube