Rep. John Thompson in Hennepin County court for 2019 hospital trespassing charges
Jul. 15—Testimony continues Friday in a misdemeanor jury trial in which state Rep. John Thompson stands accused of trespassing and obstructing legal process from a November 2019 incident in Robbinsdale. He is being tried in Hennepin County District Court.
The trial is a hold-over from Thompson's activist days before he became a legislator. The representative has been in the news recently following a July 4 traffic stop in which it was revealed that he was using a Wisconsin driver's license, calling his residency as a representative of St. Paul's East Side into question. His recent actions have been been criticized by fellow Democrats such as DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin who said he was "disappointed" in Thompson's actions.
Thompson has said he will get a Minnesota license and maintains that the traffic stop was a result of racial profiling.
In the Robbinsdale case, Thompson was part of a large group of people — police estimated at least 50 — that congregated at North Memorial Hospital about 11 a.m. where a close family friend of his was admitted following a suicide attempt, according to court documents. The friend was suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
News reports at the time described the scene as chaotic with two people fighting and others pounding on doors and banging on windows trying to gain access to locked rooms.
The hospital went into lockdown and multiple officers from several agencies were called to the scene.
Thompson recorded part of the incident on his phone which was included in a CBS television report. In it he pans around a hospital corridor showing several uniformed officers.
"This is how they treat ya'll at the door when you try to see your loved one," he said. "This is insensitivity."
When told by an officer to calm down, he replied, "Would you be calm if security surrounded you like you was a criminal?"
The officer, named in court documents as Robbinsdale police Sgt. Christopher Woodhall, responded, "I wouldn't be screaming and shouting ... you're screaming and shouting like an idiot." To which Thompson replied, "You're an idiot."
Thompson was then arrested and transported to the Robbinsdale police station, cited and released.
In a memorandum filed March 18, 2020, Thompson's attorney Jordan Kushner, said, "Mr. Thompson is now forced to go through the court proceedings ... to defend himself and his reputation."
Kushner requested documents and surveillance video from the hospital, hoping to prove "a pattern of discriminatory conduct" by the hospital.
Thompson's charges are misdemeanors which means should he be convicted he could face less than a year in jail. Most misdemeanor cases are resolved before trial if the accused pleads guilty or no contest to an offense or his attorney convinces the state to dismiss it.
Kushner estimates the trial will last about two days. He would not comment on whether Thompson would take the stand.
