St. Paul Council members call for changes to police practices after no charges in fatal shooting

Mara H. Gottfried, Pioneer Press
Updated ·6 min read
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Three St. Paul City Council members are calling for changes to police practices two days after prosecutors said a St. Paul officer’s fatal shooting of a 65-year-old man last year was legally justified.

Yia Xiong’s family has said he was deaf in one ear and didn’t speak English.

He was advancing toward officers with a 12-inch knife when an officer shot him, according to a summary of the investigation from the Ramsey County attorney’s and Minnesota Attorney General’s offices.

St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali and Council Members Nelsie Yang and Anika Bowie said in a Friday statement that they are mourning with Xiong’s family “and are deeply disturbed and saddened by the lack of justice for Mr. Xiong and his family.”

“Anytime deadly force is used against another person by police, we need accountability for police action and a sense of closure and justice for those hurt by it — especially in this case, for so many in our Hmong community, and for Mr. Xiong’s loved ones,” they said. “Mr. Xiong should be alive today, and we must reject the notion that his death and all other deaths by the police are inherently justified and non-contextual.”

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Police Chief Axel Henry said in a joint statement that they hold in their hearts Xiong’s “relatives and friends, as well as every community member and officer impacted by this tragedy.”

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi asked Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to join the review “as an added measure of transparency and a commitment to a complete and impartial review of the evidence,” the Ramsey County attorney’s office has said.

Carter and Henry said Friday that Ellison’s office’s “dedication to transparency and accountability is well-established, and we accept the findings of their investigation.”

“As the men and women of the St. Paul Police Department stand up to respond to dangerous and dynamic situations on all of our behalf, we remain committed to the deep work of healing from this specific incident, and partnering with law enforcement and community partners alike to reduce encounters such as these, which place both public and officer safety at risk,” they said in their statement.

Council members call for release of full video

Soon after Officer Abdirahman Dahir shot Xiong, the police department released brief body camera footage of the officers’ encounter with Xiong and the shooting. The council members on Friday called for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigated the case, to release the complete body camera videos.

“Partial body camera footage showed Mr. Xiong did indeed have possession of a weapon when officers arrived at the scene, but it also showed that by the time they arrived, he was walking with it calmly back to his home,” the council members said in Friday’s statement. “Community members have asked for the full footage to understand what transpired, and we support that request.”

The council members pointed out St. Paul police department use-of-force policy states: “Officers should be mindful of any known or reasonably believed barriers to cooperation such as perception barriers, mental or emotional capacity, and language barriers.”

The city attorney’s office received a notice of a wrongful death claim in August from attorney Mark Bankston; a lawsuit has not been filed.

Bankston said Friday he’s representing Xiong’s family. He successfully represented families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in suing Infowars host Alex Jones for spreading conspiracy theories. Bankston’s firm is based in Houston, Texas, and he said they have a St. Paul office.

Prosecutors’ findings and council members’ questions

In the summary of the case from attorneys from the Ramsey County and Minnesota Attorney General’s offices, released Wednesday, they wrote that body-worn camera “clearly shows Mr. Xiong holding the knife in an aggressive manner as he assumes a slightly crouched position and begins to quickly emerge through his apartment door toward the officers, despite their continued orders for him to stop. Officer Dahir and his SPPD colleagues had no objective reason to believe that Mr. Xiong did not understand the multiple orders given to him by officers to ‘stop’ and ‘drop the knife.'”

“To the contrary, when ordered three times in the lobby by Officer Dahir and his colleagues to “Drop the knife!” Mr. Xiong briefly stopped and displayed his hands as if to show the officers that he understood their orders and was not in possession of the knife,” the attorneys’ memo continued.

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The St. Paul City Council members, however, said Xiong’s “unresponsive communication and demeanor should have given reasonable determination to our officers that he did not speak English and did not understand officer commands. The reasonable determination for use of force and ability to be mindful of cultural and mental barriers should be practiced by our officers.”

With this week’s announcement about no charges, the BCA is beginning the case closure process, which includes “preparation of all materials from the case file for public release as appropriate under Minnesota law,” said Jill Oliveira, BCA spokesperson. “Ensuring that all video and other data released meets the requirements of Minnesota data practices laws is meticulous work that takes time to complete.”

The Council members are also calling for:

  • A review of the St. Paul police department’s language training practices and “cultural competency training practices to date and work with the community to update them as needed.”

  • Continued pursuit “toward a community safety model rooted in de-escalation” that “reduces needless interactions with police through other response options and proactive investments in community stability.”

  • A push “to appoint individuals directly impacted by police actions” to St. Paul’s Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission.

  • Advocating for the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training to create a position on the POST Board “that can adopt the findings and understanding on the Hmong American community’s history and culture.”

The City Council members said Xiong should be remembered “for his sacrifice and service to our country as a decorated veteran of the Secret War in Laos — one of the few remaining Hmong generals from the Vietnam War, who fought alongside the U.S. but was not recognized by the U.S. We must acknowledge the impacts of that service on so many individuals’ physical and mental health, including his. And we must not allow police violence to deem anyone an unworthy member of our community, nor their painful final moments to be their life story.”

Union response

Mark Ross, St. Paul Police Federation president, said they “agree this situation is tragic,” but he said council members using phrases such as “lack of justice” and “police violence” in their statement “is simply misguided, inflammatory and not even close to being in line with reality, the investigative findings or the prevailing community sentiment regarding this incident.”

“It would be more productive for the Council members to focus on the mental health challenges plaguing our community or the emphasis on compliance when dealing with the police,” Ross said in a Friday statement. “We’re saddened but not surprised by the tone-deaf sentiments espoused by some members of the Council, but our cops will continue to protect all members of our community undeterred, even in the face of grave danger to themselves and the dramatic increase in assaults on police officers over the past year.”

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