Former We Push for Peace worker gets probation for assaulting man outside St. Paul store

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·3 min read

A former employee of a violence-prevention organization was sentenced Tuesday to a year of probation for assaulting a man at a St. Paul Cub Foods store last year.

Raphael Derek Kelly, 30, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty May 9 to one count of misdemeanor fifth-degree assault, while a second count and a disorderly conduct charge were dismissed as part of plea agreement with prosecutors.

Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann sentenced Kelly to 90 days in jail, but then stayed the term in lieu of probation.

Kelly was working security for We Push For Peace, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that has a partnership with Cub Foods to foster goodwill and deter crime. He stopped working for the organization after the assault, the nonprofit’s CEO and founder Trahern Pollard said this week.

According to the criminal complaint, about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 2, a man arrived at the Cub Foods grocery store at 1400 W. University Ave. on a bicycle. He rode it into the store. When he stopped to speak to a checkout clerk, Kelly confronted him and told him to take the bike outside.

According to the complaint, Kelly was not wearing any uniform or obvious identification as a security officer or store employee, so the man did not know who he was and ignored his commands.

When he tried to maneuver his bike around Kelly, police said, Kelly grabbed him and pushed him backward. When he started to get off his bike, Kelly grabbed him again, forcefully pushing him into the side of the checkout lane and then toward the exit, the complaint states.

At one point during the altercation, Kelly allegedly grabbed the man around the neck. The man had a cut on his left hand as a result of the struggle.

OTHER INCIDENT

Kelly was the second We Push For Peace employee who got in trouble for using excessive force when providing security for Cub Foods last year.

Brandon David Miller, 25, of Minneapolis, was charged with fifth-degree assault after beating a homeless man outside a St. Paul Cub Foods at 1177 Clarence St. on Aug. 12. Miller told police the man reacted violently to his request for him to leave.

The assault was caught on video and viewed thousands of times, frustrating Pollard, who fired him the day after a video appeared online and said Miller’s actions did not represent how the group is meant to operate.

In February, Miller was sentenced to three years of probation. A 27-month prison sentence was stayed.

Kelly’s criminal record includes two assault convictions, two convictions for illegally possessing a firearm, and convictions for drugs, aggravated robbery, theft and disorderly conduct.

PARTNERSHIPS

According to the WPFP website, services include a workforce training center for youth and partnerships with Cub Foods and Whole Foods in the Twin Cities and Chicago. The partnerships have allowed the nonprofit to employ more than 120 “contractors” who are “engaging with shoppers, reducing crime, and building relationships between the stores and the neighborhoods,” the website reads.

Pollard said this week that instead of cutting ties with Miller entirely, he paid for him to attend anger management classes and helped him find other employment. As for Kelly, he “kind of went his own route” after his criminal charges, Pollard said.

Pollard said the organization trains employees on de-escalation and mental health awareness — and that it’s up to them to follow protocols.

“You do the things that you’re supposed to do to try to have the right people,” he said. “And sometimes, no matter what you believe in, even when you follow all your own protocols that you put in place for your organization, something like that can happen.”

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