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CALL TO ACTION: We are calling for all three officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema to be held accountable for the death of ELIJAH MCCLAIN by being fired and charged to the fullest extent of the law for his murder. 

DAVE YOUNG, Adams Country District Attorney 

EMAIL: http://adamsbroomfieldda.org/?page_id=57

ADDRESS/ PHONE: 

17th Judicial District Attorney's Office 
1000 Judicial Center Drive 
Brighton, CO 80601 

Phone:(303) 659-7720

VANESSA WILSON, Interim Police Chief of the Aurora Police Department

EMAIL: access@auroragov.org

ADDRESS/ PHONE: 

15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Aurora, CO 80012 - Phone: 303.739.7000

JARED POLIS, Governor 

EMAIL: Governorpolis@state.co.us or https://cogov.tfaforms.net/3

ADDRESS/ PHONE: 

Governor's Office, Front Desk: (303) 866-2471 

State Capitol Building 
200 E. Colfax Ave., Rm. 136 
Denver, CO 80203

DIANNE PRIMAVERA, Lieutinant Governor

EMAIL: https://cogov.tfaforms.net/3

ADDRESS/ PHONE: 

Phone: (303) 866-4075 

State Capitol Building 
200 E. Colfax Ave., Rm. 130 
Denver, CO 80203

PHIL WEISER, Attorney General 

EMAIL: https://coag.gov/about-us/contact-colorado-office-attorney-general

ADDRESS/ PHONE: 

Office of the Attorney General 
Colorado Department of Law 
Ralph L. Carr Judicial Building 
1300 Broadway, 10th Floor 
Denver, CO 80203 

(720) 508-6000

Mike Coffman, Aurora Mayor

EMAIL: mcoffman@auroragov.org

ADDRESS/PHONE: 

303.739.7015

15151 E. Alameda ParkwayAurora, CO 80012 

LETTER SENT SEPT 1st, 2020 

ATTENTION: DAVE YOUNG, Adams County District Attorney;  VANESSA WILSON, Interim Police Chief of the Aurora Police Department; JARED POLIS, Governor; DIANNE PRIMAVERA, Lieutinant Governor; PHIL WEISER, Attorney General; Mike Coffman, Aurora Mayor 

Human life is precious. But, somehow police officers, public officials and so many others who’ve taken an oath to protect and serve human life in your state have lost sight of that beautiful fact or never seemed to have had a grasp of it in the first place, especially when it comes to black people and black lives.  

So, I am asking you to call upon yourself, call upon your public officials, call upon the  police officers in your state to a place caring about doing what is right, just and humane for the people of your state back at the forefront of their minds and hearts. And for those for whom caring and serving was never a priority? Please release them from their official positions and jobs. For, there is no place for lack of caring and servitude (i.e., brutality and disregard for humanity) in public service.  

Elijah McClain was a citizen of your state with rights and should have been able to return to the safety of his home and family that fateful night in August of 2019.  Elijah did nothing wrong. And the fact that he ‘d done nothing wrong was established within minutes of this innocent young man being stopped by officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema.  

So, why is Elijah McClain dead?  

The actions of the aforementioned three officers led to this 23 year-old man’s death.  They escalated a situation and made a tragedy out of a man simply walking home from the store on a summer night. 

No one should die as a result of an unwarranted police stop. No one should die as a result of ANY police stop.  No one should die in police custody. And yet, Elijah McClain is dead.  

Why? Due to the actions of officers that are still employed in your state.  

I am calling for what should have been done immediately, but shamefully has not been done for going on a year, now.  I am calling for Officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema to be fired and held accountable for this young man’s death by being charged to the fullest extent of the law for their criminal disregard for this young man’s rights and his life.  

They need to have their day in court!  

We will not forget. Elijah McClain’s mother will certainly not forget. And I pray the world makes sure that YOU don’t forget by continuing to peacefully remind you of your duty. Many people want this all to just go away. Maybe YOU even want it to just go away. Shame on you if you do! Do what you know is right. SERVE JUSTICE FOR ELIJAH MCCLAIN AND HIS FAMILY.   

Dorian, B California 

 

LETTER SENT SEPT 21st, 2020

ATTENTION: DAVE YOUNG, Adams County District Attorney; VANESSA WILSON, Interim Police Chief of the Aurora Police Department; JARED POLIS, Governor; DIANNE PRIMAVERA, Lieutinant Governor; PHIL WEISER, Attorney General; Mike Coffman, Aurora Mayor 

I believe that the officers whose actions led to the death of Elijah Mcclain were acting from a belief that seems to permeate your law enforcement departments like a cancer metastasizing through the body. A belief that black people need to be policed - over-policed - to send a strong message that the black people in your community are under the authority of the police and must submit to that authority and never question it, even when they are innocent. The unwritten policy in your town seems to be that it’s okay to disregard the rights of black people and to even have a little fun while doing so.  

Your officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema seem to be stricken with this sickness to over police when they approached young, innocent Elijah Mcclain on that tragic night of August 2019. They seem to have been amused by Elijah’s audacity to think the he could walk freely home in his neighborhood on a summer night. They seem to be even more amused by this black man’s difference, his quirkiness and his belief that he had a right to advocate for himself and to question whether his rights were being violated. These officers placed this young man in a dangerous situation. Their actions resulted in his death. They need to be held accountable.  

Why have they not been fired and charged?  

Let’s hope it is not because the elected officials in your state are stricken with the same sickness that permeates your police department – a sickness that seems to have led these officers to believe that black rights and a black life did not matter that night.  

At the end of the video footage salvaged from that night, you can see at least two officers saying that they had determined that Elijah Mcclain was involved in no criminal activity.  

So, why is an innocent young man dead?  

These same officers are on camera jokingly describing this young man’s ‘incredible strength’ and attempt to assassinate his character by claiming that Elijah was ‘on something’ in an effort to justify choking this innocent unarmed 140lb 5’ 6’’ young black man out three times with a carotid hold.  

Elijah was on no drug. They only thing coursing through his body was a belief that he had rights.  

But, your officers seemed to want to remind him that he had no rights that night.  

Again, why have they not been held accountable for his death?  

Had they honored this mans rights, they would have never placed their hands on him in the first place. Physical contact was unwarranted and inappropriate and a violation of Elijah’s civil rights. If they had chosen to honor this man’s rights, a conversation with Elijah would have been enough to determine his innocence and that the citizen phone call prompting the police stop was bogus. These officers should have apologized for stopping him and allowed him to go home. Instead, they escalated the situation. Instead, Elijah is dead.  

All officers involved need to be fired and held accountable by being charged to the fullest extent of the law. Ask yourself why a year has gone by without any action against these officers. The only reason is because Elijah Mcclain was black.  And the sickness that lives in the hearts and minds of some of your officers did not allow them and possibly YOU - should your inaction continue - to honor the rights and lives of the black citizens you’ve taken an oath to protect and serve.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOVERNOR ANDY BESHEAR 

700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100 

Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 

https://governor.ky.gov/Contact-Us/Pages/Contact-Us.aspx 

LT GOVERNOR JACQUELINE COLEMAN 

700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100 

Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 

https://governor.ky.gov/Contact-Us/Pages/Contact-Us.aspx 

DISTRICT ATORNEY TOM WINE 

30th Judicial Circuit 

514 West Liberty Street 

Louisville, KY 40202 

502–595-2300  

http://louisvilleprosecutor.com 

ATTORNEY GENERAL DANIEL CAMERON 

700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100 

Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 

502-696-5300 

https://ag.ky.gov/Contact-Us/Pages/default.aspx 

SENATOR RAND PAUL 

Bowling Green  

Main State Office  

1029 State Street  

Bowling Green, KY 42101 

270-782-8303 

167 Russell Senate Office Building  

Washington, DC, 20510  

202-224-4343 

https://www.paul.senate.gov/contact 

REPRESENTATIVE CONGRESSMAN JOHN YARMOUTH 

Washington, D.C. Office: 

402 Cannon House Office Building  

Washington, DC 20515  

Phone: 202-225-5401  

Fax: (202) 225-5776 

Louisville Office: 

600 Martin Luther King Jr. Place, Suite 216  

Louisville, KY 40202  

Phone: 502-582-5129  

Fax: (502) 582-5897  

MAYOR GREG FISCHER 

527 W. Jefferson Street 

4th Floor‹ 

Louisville, KY 40202 

502-574-2003 

https://louisvilleky.gov/government/mayor-greg-fischer/contact-mayors-office 

INTERIM POLICE CHIEF ROBERT SCHROEDER 

633 W. Jefferson Street, Louisvillle, KY 40202 

502-574-7060 

https://louisville-police.org/FormCenter/About-Us-4/Email-the-Chief-43

ATTENTION KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GEN DANIEL CAMERON 

RE: THE MURDER OF MS. BREONNA TAYLOR by Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Officer Myles Cosgrove and now former Officer Brett Hankison

 

You should have assigned an independent prosecutor to the Breonna Taylor case. But, ‘they’ did not want you to, did they? Because ‘they’ wanted be able to have someone that they thought they could control overseeing Breonna’s case; someone who’d be in their corner, on their side. The ‘they’ to which I am referring is The Fraternal Order of Police and Kentucky law enforcement, the ones that you said you had, “an obligation to support”. Remember? You swore to support them when ‘they’ got you into office.  Yep. Remember that speech?  

I’m not going to say that with only eight years of experience as a lawyer, you are too inexperienced to be a state Attorney General and to handle a case of this magnitude.  

I’m not going to say that you lack the fortitude to make a decision that will put you at odds with those in law enforcement, which in your own words, you said, "making sure that they know [i.e., law enforcement] they have a voice in the attorney general's office” was important to you.  

I’m not going to say that you are probably shirking responsibility and hoping that the FBI, in their separate, independent investigation will make the decision that you are too hesitant to make - although you know that the decision that needs to be made is to charge these officers with murder.  

You must not shirk responsibility.  

State criminal charges for the officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor rest in the hands of the man elected to be the Kentucky Attorney General and that man is YOU.  

The credibility of the upstanding law enforcement officers who risk their lives everyday and do their job with a sense of humanity - and who do not deserve to be placed in a category anywhere near that of the three officers who murdered Breonna Taylor - is in your hands, as well.  

Set Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Officer Myles Cosgrove and now former Officer Brett Hankison apart from the thousands of upstanding law enforcement officers in your state.  

Do your job and do it swiftly.  

Serve justice to the life of this young lady - who could have been any one of the women you grew up loving and any one of the brown people whose love ushered you through life to the official state position that you are currently in. Serve this young 26- year old women’s life justice and serve it swiftly.  

This is the biggest decision of your career. History is staring you directly in the face.  

Are you not going to do your part in curbing the tide of racial violence against innocent members of marginalized groups at the hands of law enforcement?  

Are you not going to hold law enforcement accountable when their actions are criminal?  

If it helps you, think about it this way: Breonna Taylor could have very well been ANYONE of any race who put you into office. These officers could have shown a complete disregard for a young white couple’s lives, too. (Although we both know statistics show that these type of murders disproportionately happen to people who look like you and me: Black people) 

You said that "Justice is…achieved by examining the facts in an impartial and unbiased manner.”  

So, serve justice. Show the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and so many others in law enforcement that they are not above the law; that they cannot buy an Attorney General out of his credibility. Review the internal investigation into these three officers' actions and make the only decision that the facts of this case can lead you to make: Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Officer Myles Cosgrove and now former Officer Brett Hankison - the three Louisville plainclothes officers who fired their weapons and killed Taylor in her home - need to be charged with murder. 

ATTENTION GOV. ANDY BESHEAR, LT GOV. JACQUELINE COLEMAN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEN TOM WINE, ATTORNEY GEN. DANIEL CAMERON, SEN. RAND PAUL,  

CONGRESSMAN JOHN YARMUTH, MAYOR GREG FISCHER, INTERIM POLICE CHIEF ROBERT SCHROEDER 

RE: THE MURDER OF BREONNA TAYLOR BY OFFICERS JOHN MATTINGLY, MILES COSGROVE AND BRETT HANKISON 

This is my second letter to public officials in your state.  I feel like this is much more than just a legal decision to make. This is also a moral decision. An innocent, young, promising American citizen was killed in your state at the hands of law enforcement officers who took oaths to protect and serve her. There are standards.  There is a care that must be taken in every profession.  For police work, because of the nature of it, it’s of the utmost importance that these standards be upheld.  In this case, all I see with these three officers is negligence and a reckless disregard for human life.  

The reality that Breonna Taylor was shot 8 times is not an unfortunate mistake. It was pure recklessness that resulted in the death of a 26-year old woman who did not get to live to get married, have children and excel in her career as a front line worker serving the citizens of your state who may have needed her.  Her partner has lost the woman he loved forever. The life that was Breonna is gone forever. In other professions, this level of negligence and disregard for a person’s life would never go unpunished. 

Think about how you’d feel if this were your daughter or your niece. Examine the facts of this case as well as the attempt these officers have made to alter and dishonestly omit facts and then tell me that you would not conclude that firing over 20 shots into a house without ever announcing yourself – because we all know these officers went through the trouble of obtaining a no-knock warrant so that they could use the element of surprise and catch citizens who they assumed were criminals with illegal substances in their home – is murder.  These officers allowed their desire to get credit for another drug bust to cloud their judgment and overshadow their moral compass.  More importantly these officers allowed their agenda to tragically overshadow the rights of the two U.S. citizens in the apartment and those whose apartments where nearby. Did these officers not factor in the possibility that citizens not knowing who was entering their home had a right to defend their safety? Breonna Taylor and her partner Kenneth Walker valued their own lives enough to protect themselves, an action supported by your states Stand Your Ground Law. Just because the actions of these officers illustrate a lack of value with regard to these citizen’s lives, does not mean that Breonna and her boyfriend did not value their own precious right to safety and life. .  

You cannot tell me that if this young woman were in your family that you would not make sure each officer was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  If she were family to you, her life would matter. Breonna mattered to her mother, her father, her family, her friends and her partner who tried to protect her from intruders who applied for a warrant so they could enter unannounced, as unknown entities, under the cover of night. Breonna mattered to all of the people she helped as a front line worker in your state as well as to the people she will never get to help because her bright future as a medical worker was cut short.  

Breonna should matter to you. You need to make her life matter to these three officers and any officer that may consider taking part in these type of dangerous, professionally negligent, criminal actions in the future. I am calling for the three police officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove to be fired - Brett Hankison has already been fired – and charges for murder brought against all of them. 

D. Baucum 

 

RE: THE MURDER OF ELIJAH MCCLAIN) 

ATTENTION Colorado GOV Jared Polis, Aurora MAYOR MIKE COFFMAN, Police Dept Chief Vanessa Wilson ATTORN GEN Phil Wieser 

"This situation should have never gotten to the point of there being a ‘struggle’ as your three officers describe it. 

Your police officers didn’t even have the right to touch Elijah. 

They had no right to call Elijah suspicious. 

Based on what? Elijah not being white? 

But, let’s start with your officers having information from the 911 call that this man had done nothing wrong, but simply looked ‘suspicious’. 

How did your officers know that the person making the 911 call was not biased against people of color? 

Your three officers only job was to very carefully assess the situation without judgment or bias or stepping on an innocent citizen’s rights. 

But, your officer started his approach of the innocent citizen Mr. Elijah McClain - not suspected of committing crime, mind you - with saying “You’re acting suspicious!!!” 

Biased from the very beginning. Racist racial profiling from the very beginning. 

And that biased judgment on the part of your three officers colored all their actions from that moment forward and resulted in Elijah’s death. 

From the beginning your officers handled this situation with a blatant disregard for this citizen Elijah McClain’s rights. It’s your officer’s disrespect for the laws in place to protect innocent citizen’s rights that resulted in this young man’s agitation and eventually his death. 

Your officer’s poor judgment, bias and refusal to respect an American citizens rights makes them complicit in this young man’s death. 

The paramedics/ fire department responded to the situation at the direction of your officers. The paramedics, too, need to be held accountable for their negligent actions. 

U.S. citizen Elijah McClain was upset. Of course he was tense. He was an innocent man whose rights as a taxpaying citizen of your state were being violated. He had a right to stand up for himself. And he was standing up for himself in the best way he could. But, did your officers take the time to listen to him. No? But, they had a duty to do so. 

Your officer’s job was to assess the situation. Not to put their hands on Mr. Elijah McClain. 

U.S. citizen Elijah McClain was not suspected of any crime. 

Shame on your system for not bringing everyone involved in Elijah McClain’s death to justice. 

Why do these officers still have a job? 

Why have they not been fired for violating this young man’s rights? 

Why have they not been fired for using a choke hold? 

Why have these officers not been fired for escalating a nonviolent situation with a nonviolent American citizen to a place of violence and eventual death? 

These officers obviously wanted to punish an American citizen for asserting his rights. Why? Why was this young man punished for standing up for his right not to be assumed guilty; not to be assumed ‘suspicious’? 

From the video, it appears that your officers were using this young man’s distress as entertainment. These three officers seem to find violating this young man’s civil rights as entertaining. They seem to find the manner in which this young man advocating for himself verbally as entertaining. They seem to find escalating a situation that did not warrant force to a point to violence and death entertaining. That is sick. There is no place for them in law enforcement. 

Why was Mr. Elijah McClain not allowed to walk on immediately once they realized he was not doing anything wrong? 

Your officers escalated a situation involving an innocent 23-year old law-abiding citizen to a point tragedy and they need to be held accountable. You need to look into every attempt to cover up what happened here. Every attempt to bury this, every attempt to deflect culpability and every attempt for these officers to create a scenario that justifies their disgusting disregard for an American citizen’s right to walk down the street in peace and to be handled with the utmost respect and care is a reflection upon your officials refusal to bring officers who are unworthy of the badge to justice and it makes you complicit in this attempt to deny this young man justice." 

D. Baucum, California 

mcoffman@auroragov.org 

governorpolis@state.co.us 

info@philforcolorado.com

ATTENTION: Georgia Bureau of Investigations DIRECTOR Vic Reynolds, DISTRICT ATTORNEY Paul Howard, CONGRESSSMAN, David Scott RE: Murder of Rayshard Brooks 

I saw the video.  

I saw citizen Mr. Brooks resisting officers arresting him.  

I saw citizen Mr. Brooks wrestle the tazer from your officer. 

I saw citizen Mr. Brooks point the tazer at an armed officer that’s trained in combat by your city.  

But, before I talk about how shooting Mr. Brooks, this American citizen not one, not two but three times - twice in the back - was an excessive use of force, even though a drunk Mr. Brooks had a tazer in his hand, I’d like to go back to the beginning of this confrontation where we see Mr. Brooks, a citizen of the United States caught, not driving while intoxicated, not caught fighting anyone, not caught posing any harm to anyone else but caught responsibly sleeping the intoxication off in his car in a parking lot.  

I cannot stress the simplicity of the beginning of this scenario enough: American citizen Mr. Brooks was too drunk to drive home, so Mr. Brooks was safely sleeping his intoxication off in his car in a Wendy’s parking lot when he was approached by your officers, Devin Brosnan and Garrett Rolfe.  

Is it a crime to sleep in a car?  

Is it a crime to be drunk in a parked car?  

He was drunk in public. But, so what? Mr. Brooks was in a parked car. Asleep.  

So, why was he even being arrested?  

Did the officers assume that Mr. Brooks was too drunk to know his rights?  

Did your officers assume that since they were called – even though the 911 call should have never been made in the first place – that they needed to arrest Mr. Brooks in order to make showing up on the scene seem worth their time? 

Your officers handled this with a disregard for this man’s rights and his humanity  from the moment they showed up.  

Your officers didn’t have the right to even ask Mr. Brooks to get out of his car. Mr Rayshard Brooks was not suspected of any crime.  

Once your officers were able to assess the situation, doing their job of serving and protecting an innocent public citizen – in this case Mr. Brooks - should have led your officers to have prompted 27-year old Mr. Rayshard Brooks to call someone to come and pick him up. Protecting and serving a tax-paying citizen should have led your officers to prompt Mr. Brooks to call an Uber, they should have allowed Mr. Brooks to walk home, they should have offered this 27 year old young man a ride home or simply allowed him to continue to sleep it off in his car, they should have allowed him to not have a criminal record from an unwarranted arrest. Your officers’ job to serve and protect should have allowed Mr. Brooks to live to see another day.  

But, your officers decided to place him under arrest, for what?  

So, Mr. Brooks resisted an arrest that was unwarranted in the first place.  If your officers were already overstepping this young man’s rights, what would stop your officers from ‘accidently’ killing him for any reason? Put yourself in the mind of this unarmed black man whose only crime was being black. I mean, officers who don’t follow protocol are killing black men all over the country, right? So, Mr. Brooks decided to fight for his life.  

Mr. Brooks was under the influence, so officers should have expected that this young man’s reactions to his rights as a U.S. citizen being violated to be heightened, even unreasonable.  

Your officers’ reckless behavior in this situation resulted this young man’s life being cut short. Shooting him three times – twice in the back – for running and then pointing a tazer at your officer was excessive.  It would be excessive even if the pursuit was of an armed criminal. Which Mr. Brooks was not.  

The officer could have just maimed him. But, the officer chose to shoot to kill. And for that, this officer should be immediately arrested and prosecuted for murder. This officer is a professional trained to deal with these situations with discernment. Yet, this officer showed a reckless disregard for Mr. Brooks rights, his humanity and his life.  

Had your officers chosen to relate to Mr. Rayshard Brooks as a human being, they would have been able to see any male member of their own family in Rayshard’s eyes – their Dads, their uncles, their brothers. They would have been able to see themselves in this young man’s eyes. Had your officers chosen to deal with this situation as professionals, trained to uphold a standard of serving and protecting citizens, they would have scanned their minds for a instance in their own lives when they had drank too much and chose to sleep the intoxication off in a parked car – safe - rather than on the road putting others in danger.  

Mr. Rayshard Brooks and his family have suffered drastic consequences as a result of this situation. So, your officers should have to suffer drastic consequences because it is their recklessness and disregard for this young man’s rights and his humanity that escalated the situation to a tragic one.  They are both responsible for the death of this American citizen was named Rayshard Brooks.   

Why is Garrett Rolfe still employed as a police officer? He should be fired immediately for violating My Brooks’ rights and allowing this situation to escalate to the point of death. Both officers Devin Brosnan and Garrett Rolfe should be arrested and charged with murder.  They are responsible for this 27 year old mans death.  

D. Baucum 

MPD, Medaria Arradondo, Mike Kjos, Kathy Waite, Art Knight - 

Your immediate firing of the four officers involved in the George Floyd murder was a first step. You would not have taken that kind of action unless you had clear evidence of wrong doing and misconduct. So, you cannot stop with the termination of their employment. That is not enough. 

Citizens of this country, the world and upstanding police officers across everywhere (yes, because for those officers that operate with integrity, their reputations are at stake) are urging you to make sure that these four officers are punished to the full extent of the law. 

Make sure evidence is not hidden. Make sure the records of these officers are not hidden. Make sure the police union does not use their power to sway officers from doing what is right and taking action against rogue officers it the department ranks. Make sure witnesses are not intimidated by the power to retaliate you hold from speaking their truth to power in this case. And please, above all else, do not fall into a 'protect your own' mentality thinking that if you fully put your weight behind supporting these officers being charged for murder that you are somehow letting down the hundreds of thousands of police officers that serve in communities across our nation. 

No. By making sure that you do you job - fulfill your civic obligation -  to hold murderous, reckless and racist police officers accountable in your department, you are honoring your citizens and ALL upstanding officers that risk their lives every day and night to do their jobs and do them with integrity. With integrity. 

Do the just, civil and humane thing and cooperate with all investigative agencies at every level of this investigation. DO YOUR JOB. The world is watching you. God is watching you. And, BELIEVE THIS: The racist police officers who terrorize citizens of color are watching you, too. They want to see if they are going to be able to continue to use their badges and blue uniforms to carry out their darkest and most inhumane impulses and continue their destructive reign on black lives and black families. 

With Grief and Outrage and a demand for a higher standard in your department, 

Dorian B.

A violent crime was committed on U.S. soil against a U.S. citizen at the hands of U.S. police officers who had a duty to protect and serve the citizens of your state.  

U.S. citizen George Floyd suffered damage to his person while in police custody that led to his death and the damage done to him was recorded by another U.S. citizen and witnessed by other U.S. citizens who were begging the four police officers to act according to the  standards of their jobs.  They could see that what the police officers were doing to George Floyd was wrong and as American citizens, they spoke out. The officers continued their harmful and life threatening actions even as the citizens that pay their salaries were calling for them to stop using their power to unnecessarily bring bodily harm to this man.  A man who had not yet even been given due process or charged by a court with any crime 

As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, as a woman who has served in some form of legal capacity for decades, you know that this man’s civil rights were violated.  

You yourself describe this as, “…an incredibly disturbing and horrific loss of life.” 

It is a loss of life that resulted due to actions that clearly show that officers acted in a way that overwhelmingly indicates that they had no regard for this man’s civil rights or his life.  

Citizens were begging these officers to stop. Citizens were calling these officers to a higher standard. Citizens had to shout to remind these officers that this man’s basic human rights were being violated. If citizens could see that rights were being violated here, then this should be clear to a U.S. Attorney and anyone up the chain of command in the U.S. Attorney’s office.  

You were appointed by President Trump as United States Attorney of Minnesota. Resist the temptation to tow the party line. Resist the temptation to make this a partisan issue where you have to appease anyone in power and ensure your rise to higher appointments in your career by serving anything less than a thorough investigation that results in a justice that you know is due in this case. Resist the temptation for yourself or anyone who works for you to accept questionable details of this case as truth if you suspect in any way that corruption and the intention to suppress evidence is apparent. Do not allow justice to be hindered in any way by any body no matter powerful they may be.  

As a woman who has risen to the level of power you have, you know that there are people in power that want to suppress your ability to enjoy your full rights as an American citizen and a human being. So you should understand completely how those same forces are constantly at work against people of color and how that manifests in law enforcement in your city and across this nation. People use their power to deprive marginalized groups of their rights on a daily basis.  

You have the power of the American government to take full action against this ever happening again. Use your voice. Use your position. Use what you know as a woman about how white male power operates in this country to disenfranchise citizens that are not white and male of their rights.  

You must determine that these officers violated federal laws and George Floyd’s civil rights. These officers used the powers bestowed upon them as agents of the law to deprive George Floyd not only of his rights as a citizen, but his basic right and need as a human being to BREATHE!!! 

Attention Minnesota Attorn. Gen. Keith Ellison  

Time, fate and history have put you in this position for a reason.  

As Attorney General, you are the top legal authority in the State of Minnesota. And you are a man of color. You know the law thoroughly because we know you had to be ten times better than your white counterparts to get to where you are. Find the precedents for arresting all four police officers NOW given the overwhelming information on the case you currently have. 

Suspects have been arrested and charged on much less evidence. I am sure that you have seen the body cam footage. Therefore, you have more information than the public right now. We have not see it. But we have seen enough from citizen video footage. The police chief saw enough and used his position to act immediately. Act on what you know you know to be true. ACT ON IT.  

It is said that: “Each state's attorney general is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the laws, as well as the ability to pass new legislation. The state attorney general also has the higher purpose of protecting the people of the state and their interests.”  

Every black person, every person of color that has helped you in any way to get to the position that you are in, every marginalized group, and the allies that support justice for all in your state and in this country are counting on you to do the right thing here. You must be acutely aware of the role that you play in history right now.  

There are people in power that may have placed this case in your hands because they felt that the people of your state and across the country would be more likely to accept anything less than these officers being charged to the full extent of the law from a man of color than from white DA Mike Freeman.  

Perhaps you may be concerned that because you are a man of color, that those watching your every move will scream that you are biased in this case and will therefore seek to over prosecute because of that bias.  

DON’T ALLOW THOSE VOICES STOP YOU FROM DOING WHAT YOU KNOW YOU NEED TO DO IN THIS CASE. STAND IN YOUR POWER. STAND IN THE TRUTH OF WHAT EVERYONE HAS SEEN WITH THEIR EYES.  

Now is not the time to use this as political capital to advance your career like so many who hold the power you do have done in the past and continue to do. Now is not the time to appease organizations, police unions and/or government officials with an outcome that leaves you in good standing and upholds your reputation with powerful people that continue to support racism in police ranks. YOU MUST MAKE SURE THAT ALL FOUR OFFICERS ARE ARRESTED AND CONVICTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW. 

Letter I wrote to ATTN: GOV. Andy Beshear, LT GOV. Jacqueline Coleman, DA Tom Wine, Attn GEN Daniel Cameron, SEN Rand Paul, REO John Yarmuth 
RE: The murder of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville, Kentucky

"Is this how you honor your front line workers? 

Or do you allow your public servants – police investigators and officers - to automatically assume that the black people in your community don’t add value to your state, so they don’t deserve the care and caution you’d provide in serving and protecting your white citizens? 

Officers went through the trouble of applying for a no knock warrant, entering Ms. Taylor's home in the middle of the night all just to decide in the heat of the moment to announce themselves as the police? Why lie? Because, they know that they did this entirely the wrong way. 

Breonna deserved better. She’s one of the many front line workers in your state that was there to save your citizens lives when needed. She deserved better than a no knock warrant. She deserved better than the investigator that applied for it and the judge that approved it. Her boyfriend tried to give her that better by protecting her life, even as the police officers who entered her home - and a system that didn’t see her as important enough to consider her safety above the glory of an arrest - didn’t. Breonna’s partner had every right to protect from her from whomever he thought was entering their home and if you’re officers chose not to announce themselves, then Breonna’s partner could only assume that they were intruders come to harm them. The fact that all of your officers chose not to activate their body cams proves that they did not want to be held accountable for actions which they knew were not well thought out to protect the safety of the citizens within the apartment unit. If you are going to apply for a no knock warrant, then you have to factor in citizens right to protect themselves if they have no idea who is entering their homes. 

The officers involved not having their body cams activated should not lead the department to assume that the truth cannot therefore be determined. The officers not activating their body cams should be clear evidence that the intent of these officers was to suppress the truth should complications arise. 

The thirst to win and accumulate arrests in any case should never overshadow the safety of ANY of your citizens. 

This was murder. Under the cover of night, under the protection of a no knock warrant issued by a judge that must not have taken a thorough look at the facts of the case, under the protection of a department with a culture that will protect officers before any person of color, these officers stepped on the rights of these innocent people and they should be held accountable. They should be fired along with anyone along the chain of command that authorized or signed off on this raid of the home of innocent citizens. 

Wouldn’t YOU have protected Breonna Taylor who has sacrificed so much to save and serve others? Wouldn’t YOU have protected the woman you loved? Wouldn’t YOU have protected your friend, YOUR significant other? YOUR family? Breonna’s partner had a right and a duty to protect her. He was the only one there that cared enough to do so. The judge didn’t. The police officers didn’t. And no one along the chain of command connected this case cared. 

Eight times. She was shot eight times. What was said in that apartment? What was screamed out? We will never know because the body cams of the officers were not activated and that alone is criminal. 

In any other profession, professionals would be fired for this type of incompetence, this type of negligence, this type of sloppiness, this type of inability to operate according to the highest standards in a career that could result in harm being done to innocent people and irreplaceable human lives being cut short. This type of lack of planning and lack of compassion is criminal. 

I along with others I am calling for you to immediately fire investigators involved in this case and that you see to it that they be charged with manslaughter and negligence, even murder. They should be charged to the full extent of the law. I am calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the Louisville PD. I am calling for a special session to be called to ban no knock warrants. 

Breonna was one of your state’s shining stars and her life and all the people in your community she would have touched and saved have lost a true hero." 

D. Baucum 

Kentucky GOV OFFICE WEBSITE 
https://governor.ky.gov