Minneapolis police leader said shootings didn’t bother him

The president of the Minneapolis police union who called George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’ in a letter to members has said that he was involved in multiple police shootings and they didn’t bother him. 

Lt Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, was speaking during an interview in April with Stim Radio, posted just a month before Floyd’s death. 

Kroll claimed that he and over half of his board members were involved in police shootings but ‘didn’t have problems’ with PTSD. 

In the interview, he also complained that police officers in the city were not being approved raises because there was so much money being spent on wrongful death suits, blaming the lawyers who didn’t get cops off the hook. 

 

Lt Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis who called George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’, has himself been involved in several police shootings. He is seen speaking here at a Trump rally in October 2019, where he praised him for his support of police

There were calls for Kroll to resign as president of the union Tuesday after the letter he sent to members about Floyd’s death. 

There’s been a big influx of PTSD. But I’ve been involved in three shootings myself, and not one of them has bothered me. Maybe I’m different 

In the letter released Monday, Kroll described protesters demonstrating over Floyd’s death as terrorists and criticized the city’s politicians for not sanctioning greater use of force against them in a letter to union members. 

He also defended the four officers involved in Floyd’s death, including Derek Chauvin who is facing charges of murder and manslaughter. All four officers have been fired.

A video of the arrest on on May 25, in which Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes until he died, went viral and sparked protests and riots across the U.S which have now lasted for eight days and led to the National Guard being deployed in several places. 

Kroll’s April interview, however, revealed the extent to which he and his colleagues were involved in police shootings and how he believes cops should not be blamed in settlements for wrongful death cases. 

‘There’s been a big influx of PTSD,’ Kroll said. ‘But I’ve been involved in three shootings myself, and not one of them has bothered me. Maybe I’m different.

‘Out of the 10 board members, over half of them have been involved in armed encounters, and several of us multiple. We don’t seem to have problems,’ he added. 

‘Certainly getting shot at and shooting people takes a different toll, but if you’re in this job and you’ve seen too much blood and gore and dead people then you’ve signed up for the wrong job.’ 

Later in the interview, Kroll tells host Maxwell Thomas Silverhammer his thoughts on pressure from the city’s mayor and city council asking police to forgo raises, claiming that they are instead ‘p*****g away’ money on programs like a transgender coordinator. 

Kroll, pictured in uniform in 2018, now reportedly represents over 800 rank-and-file police offivers, and has led the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis for five years

Kroll, pictured in uniform in 2018, now reportedly represents over 800 rank-and-file police offivers, and has led the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis for five years

‘The first thing we said was OK, let’s see the budget, let’s see the city budget. And guys they’re p*****g away, millions and millions of dollars to projects,’ he said. 

‘Like, you know, they’re giving $15,000 a year to the transgender coordinator of the city.’

He added that police should be held blameless for the costly settlements in wrongful death cases and blamed the city attorneys who he feels did not defend them properly when they were sued over fatal shootings. 

‘They just paid a former Minnesota Viking $385,000 in an out-of-court settlement because he was tased when he wouldn’t leave a bar,’ Kroll said. ‘The cops tased him.’

‘You’re giving away money left and right in lawsuits, and you want us to take a bath? So forget it,’ Kroll continued. 

He spoke, in particular, about the case of Terrance Franklin whose family were awarded a $795,000 settlement for his wrongful death. 

Franklin was a burglary suspect, according to The Intercept, who was found by five police in a basement unarmed. 

George Floyd, pictured, was not behaving violently towards the police, nor was he armed or suspected of a violent crime when he was detained by Chauvin but in a letter to the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, Kroll branded him as a 'violent criminal'

George Floyd, pictured, was not behaving violently towards the police, nor was he armed or suspected of a violent crime when he was detained by Chauvin but in a letter to the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, Kroll branded him as a ‘violent criminal’

Police said he tried to take control of an officer’s gun but his family claimed one of the officer’s weapons went off accidentally, shooting two of the cops in the legs and that they responded by shooting Franklin. 

‘The Franklin one was near and dear to my heart because he shot two friends of mine, and a very good friend of mine was the one who shot and killed him in the confrontation,’ Kroll said. 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune released the full copy of the letter written by Kroll, who appeared at a Trump rally in October last year, Monday, in which he blasts Floyd as a criminal. 

‘What is not being told is the violent criminal history of George Floyd. The media will not air this,’ he wrote.

‘I’ve worked with the four defense attorneys that are representing each of our four terminated individuals under criminal investigation, in addition with our labor attorneys to fight for their jobs. They were terminated without due process.’  

While Floyd had served time in prison for aggravated robbery, and it is unknown if Chauvin knew this as he detained him, video footage of the arrest shows that Floyd was not behaving violently towards the police, nor was he armed or suspected of a violent crime.

Protests have broken out in a number of U.S. cities following the death of George Floyd, including in Minneapolis (pictured, June 1), the city where he died. The killing sparked angry protests and riots against police brutality but Lt Kroll has called the demonstrators terrorists

Protests have broken out in a number of U.S. cities following the death of George Floyd, including in Minneapolis (pictured, June 1), the city where he died. The killing sparked angry protests and riots against police brutality but Lt Kroll has called the demonstrators terrorists

A coroner has since confirmed that Floyd’s death was homicide. Dr Allecia Wilson of the University of Michigan, one of the two forensic doctors who performed the independent autopsy, said the evidence pointed to homicide by ‘mechanical asphyxia’ meaning from some physical force that interfered with oxygen supply.  

In his letter, Kroll also blamed city officials for not giving police enough support to deal with the protests and riots that have broken out in Minneapolis following the death of Floyd.

‘What has been very evident throughout this process is you have lacked support from the top,’ he wrote, addressing union members. 

‘This terrorist movement that is currently occurring was a long time build up which dates back years. 

‘Starting with minimizing the size of our police force and diverting funds to community activists with an anti-police agenda. 

‘Our chief requested 400 more officers and was flatly denied any. This is what led to this record breaking riot.’

He went on to claim that the police have not been given the necessary permissions to use certain equipment, writing ‘the ability for our officers to use gas munitions and less lethal munitions to defend ourselves’ has been ‘held back’.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations called for Kroll’s resignation and said that he was to blame for ‘[enabling] violence and brutality to grow within police ranks’. 

The Minnesota branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations called for Kroll's resignation Tuesday after he sent a letter to members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, of which he is the president, calling George Floyd a 'violent criminal' and claiming that the protesters over his death are 'terrorists'

The Minnesota branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations called for Kroll’s resignation Tuesday after he sent a letter to members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, of which he is the president, calling George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’ and claiming that the protesters over his death are ‘terrorists’

Minneapolis’ governor Tim Waltz claimed on Saturday that the city and its neighbor city St. Paul were ‘under assault’ by people from outside the cities, and suggested that up to 80 per cent of people looting and setting fire to some buildings were outsiders.

‘The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,’ Waltz said. ‘It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great city.’

He also blamed elements of ‘domestic terrorism’, which Kroll echoed in his letter.

Arrest records have shown that Waltz’s claim was false, and that 80 per cent of people arrested were from Minnesota, with half being from Minneapolis.

Former Minneapolis police chief Janeé Harteau was quick to condemn the letter. She tweeted a copy of the it, writing: ‘A disgrace to the badge! This is the battle that myself and others have been fighting against. Bob Kroll turn in your badge!’

Harteau –  who resigned from the police department in 2017 following a police shooting of Australian woman Justine Damond by a rookie officer –  suggested that Kroll’s comments represented attitudes that had prevented her attempts to reform the police department.

Pictured: Kroll's letter to members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis

In his letter, Kroll defended the four officers fired for the killing of George Floyd, and criticized city officials for their response to subsequent protests and riots

Pictured: Kroll’s letter to members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. In his letter, he defended the four officers fired for the killing of George Floyd, and criticized city officials for their response to subsequent protests and riots

Kroll has been a vocal supporter of President Trump in the past, appearing at a Trump rally in Minneapolis in October 2019 where he praised him as a ‘wonderful president’ for his support of the police.

For a long time he has pushed back against police reforms in the city. In 2007 he called Keith Ellison – then congressmen and now Minnesota’s attorney general – a terrorist because he pushed for reforms. Ellison is Muslim and black.  

‘The big buzzword they had was deescalation,’ Kroll said of police reform efforts. 

‘You’re supposed to, you know, even if you’re lawful in using force, it could look bad and give a bad public perception.’

‘Certainly cops, it’s not in their nature. So you’re training them to back away,’ he added.

 ‘And it’s just not a natural — that’s where a lot of the stress does come from with the cops is not [having] the ability to grab somebody and say, no, step back or you’re going to jail and if need be, by force.’ 

In a lawsuit filed by the current Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo alleging racism in the police department, Kroll is accused of wearing a motorcycle jacket with a white-power patch and of a ‘history of discriminatory attitudes and conduct’, according to Mother Jones.  

Kroll has reportedly been the subject of at least 20 internal affairs investigations. For example, as a young officer in 1994 was suspended for five days for using excessive force. This decision was later reversed by the police chief. 

According to a Star Tribune report one of several lawsuits filed against Kroll accused him of ‘beating, choking and kicking’ a biracial 15-year-old boy while ‘spewing racial slurs’. 

Pictured: A group of demonstrators gather at a makeshift memorial honoring George Floyd, at the spot where he was taken into custody, in Minneapolis, June 2

Pictured: A group of demonstrators gather at a makeshift memorial honoring George Floyd, at the spot where he was taken into custody, in Minneapolis, June 2

He now reportedly represents over 800 rank-and-file police officers, and has led the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis for five years.

In his letter, he also criticized top city officials for not commending the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) for their work in combating the protests and riots.

‘I’ve noted in press conferences from our mayor, our governor, and beyond, how they refuse to acknowledge the work of the MPD and continually shift blame to it. It is despicable behavior. How our command staff can tolerate it and live with themselves I do not know,’ he wrote, before praising the city’s police officers.

‘No one with the exception of us is willing to recognize and acknowledge the extreme bravery you have displayed through this riot. You have my utmost respect.’

However, the MPD have faced criticism for their response to the protests and have been accused of using excessive force.

In one instance, MPD officers and members of the National Guard marched down a residential street in Minneapolis and shot paint canisters at people on their own front porch, while many people have been reportedly shot by rubber bullets. 

Last week, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was forced to declare a state of emergency, and in addition to a number of examples of police using what could be deemed as excessive force, there have also been instances of violence against officers.



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