'It Doesn't Show The Whole Picture': St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter Calls For Investigation Of Teen's Arrest
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A video of police arresting a teenage girl has captured the attention of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter.
That video has been circulating around social media, and police admit that arresting someone who is physically resisting is hard to watch.
Mayor Carter agreed, and he told WCCO Thursday why he asked the police chief for a formal internal affairs investigation into the circumstances surrounding this arrest.
"The video that's emerged, as some have pointed out, it's a snippet," Carter said. "It doesn't show the whole picture. That's why we need an investigation."
Carter says the city does not have the answers as to why this happened, but he believes an investigation into this arrest is needed.
"The relationship between our officers and our neighbors is a critical public safety asset that we have to protect and preserve at all times. And that's why for me it's disheartening to see people jumping out to try to villainize the minor child involved in this," Carter said. "That's also why it's disheartening for me to see people trying to jump out to try to villainize the officers involved in this before we have a full reading of the facts. We don't know. What we do know is that we're committed to transparency, we're committed to accountability and we're committed to getting to the bottom of this."
The St. Paul Police Department tells WCCO the girl was resisting arrest, and that they have had problems with her in the past. The St. Paul Police Federation does stand by the actions of the officers.
Not only will there be a formal internal affairs investigation, Mayor Carter says that he also hopes to use use-of-force experts and people from the community to review the video to get to the bottom of what happened.
Police say this all started because the girl was trespassing at a gas station. During the confrontation, they say she punched an officer in the head.
The officers in the video will work their regular shift during the internal affairs investigation.
