Duluthians Speak Out After Deadly Use of Force Incident in Minneapolis

Duluth NAACP, local protesters, and St. Louis County Attorney weigh in on use of force incidents

DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth branch NAACP president calls it a “recurring nightmare.”

Duluth protesters say deadly use of force incidents can happen anywhere, so people in every community need to take a stand against it.

“Silence is compliance and we cannot stand for actions like this,” said protester Kathryne Ford.

She and others organized a small protest at the corner of London Road and 21st Avenue East in Duluth.

“We want things like this, they need to stop happening,” she said. “And the people that commit these things need to be brought to justice.”

Duluth branch NAACP President Stephan Witherspoon agrees.

“I want to see accountability,” he said. “I want to see these men, these individual men who did this held accountable because, if they’re not held accountable, it gives a green light to other things happening that have plagued the African heritage community for hundreds of years.”

Witherspoon says many police officers do a good job protecting the communities they serve, but officers in credible use of force investigations make entire departments look bad.

He says part of the solution is for people of all backgrounds to stand in solidarity against any unnecessary violence in their communities.

“What we need to do is charge everybody to stand up against this, to charge our allies, our white allies to stand up and fight against this as well even when we’re not around,” he added.

St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin is part of Minnesota’s Working Group on Police-Involved Deadly Force Encounters.

He tells us law enforcement has a responsibility to intervene if a citizen or officer is in danger, but they should always be focused on protecting life.

“Everything they do has to be with an eye towards taking the least deadly type of action that they can under the circumstances,” explained Rubin.

The Working Group encourages law enforcement to use body cameras when possible and for agencies to focus on training officers with deescalation techniques.

“We have seen initially, at least since the beginning of this year, a decrease in any of these types of situations, so that’s encouraging, but it’s always a tragedy when something like this does occur,” said Rubin.

Rubin says it’s in the hands of the Hennepin County Attorney if charges will be filed against the officers in the George Floyd incident.

FOX 21 reached out to Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken who said his department does not comment on investigations outside the city of Duluth.