Planted gun a 'fairy tale'

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said Monday the lawyers for the family of a teenager shot by police in 2006 are spinning "a fairy tale" and raising allegations of a planted gun "based on evidence that doesn't exist."

Dolan, who answered questions in an interview for the first time about a federal lawsuit brought by Fong Lee's family, denied allegations of a police conspiracy and called his officers' actions heroic.

"You have a fairy tale that's being told in my view by attorneys for the plaintiffs. It's confusing a community. They're alleging wrongdoing from officers that took heroic actions," Dolan said, talking about Lee family lawyers Michael Padden and Richard Hechter.

The lawyers did not provide comment despite repeated requests.

In July 2006, Lee was shot eight times by officer Jason Andersen after a foot chase around Cityview Elementary School on the city's North Side. Lee's family contends he was unarmed and police planted a gun near his body to make the shooting look justified. A Hennepin County grand jury cleared Andersen of criminal liability. The Lee family filed a lawsuit, which recently raised new allegations of a planted gun and a conspiracy.

Dolan and Deputy Chief Sharon Lubinski cited several reasons that they believe the allegations are unfounded. For one, Andersen and state trooper Craig Benz were riding and working together for the first time that night. "The contention would be they plotted and schemed -- something that would be very unthinkable. They've never worked together," Dolan said.

Dolan said Fong Lee's behavior that day was suspicious and dangerous, and the shooting was justified.

That afternoon, Andersen and Benz approached several men on bikes in the school parking lot and saw a hand-to-hand exchange from one man to Fong Lee, Dolan said. He noted that Benz and Andersen both say in sworn statements that they saw a gun in Lee's hand.

"The evidence is overwhelming, Fong Lee had a gun," Dolan said. The officers, who were both in uniform and riding in a marked car, drew their own guns and gave chase.

The hand-to-hand exchange gave officers probable cause to question Fong Lee and when he ran, that raised the level of suspicion, Dolan said.

The chief said Lee was warned to stop. "He was shot at once when Lee was making a move that Andersen saw as threatening. He does not have to be pointing that gun for [the shooting] to be justified," Dolan said, adding it was "pretty obvious" the gun was not in Lee's waistband when he was shot.

"This is good police work. This is heroic police work. They're chasing an armed gang member with a gun and nothing more," Dolan said. "Obviously, there's a financial goal for the attorneys for Fong Lee."

What's not in dispute: A Russian-made Baikal .380-caliber gun was found near Lee's body. The same gun was stolen from North Side resident Dang Her in 2004.

"It's a gun that was never in our custody. It's a gun that was stolen from the Her residence," Dolan said.

But in an affidavit, Her said police contacted him in 2004 and told him they had recovered his gun in a snowbank. Dolan and the city, in its formal court response, said the gun recovered that day from a snowbank was a Belgian-made FNH that was mistakenly believed to be Her's gun. The Belgian gun has been in police custody since 2004 when it was found in the snowbank, Dolan said.

In the days after the Lee shooting, Lt. Mike Fossum filed an update to his report from the 2004 Her burglary, saying he was wrong, that the gun from the snowbank was a 7.65-caliber FNH, not Her's Baikal.

Dolan said Fossum handled the matter appropriately and denied it was sloppy police work.

He also denied a recent contention by three members of the former Police Community Relations Council (PCRC) say Dolan told them the gun found near Lee's body carried his fingerprints. "I never told anybody there were fingerprints on that gun," Dolan said. "That's a lie. It's not the first time we've had a lie from that direction."

The activists -- Ron Edwards, Al Flowers and Zachary Metoyer -- insisted Monday that Dolan said Lee's prints were on the gun in different settings.

Flowers said he heard it at a news conference being held by the Hmong community in City Hall in July 2006 when Dolan walked in and "wanted to calm us down." Flowers said he also heard Dolan later state it at a meeting of the PCRC. "They are backtracking so much," said Flowers, adding that it was a "coverup."

Edwards said he heard it also in a phone conversation with Dolan. Metoyer claimed to have heard it at a PCRC meeting.

Dolan said the Lee shooting was not an issue at the PCRC.

No prints were found on the gun. Once it was tested for prints, it couldn't be tested for DNA because it was contaminated, he and Lubinski said.

A settlement conference is scheduled on the case at 9:30 a.m. on May 11. Trial is scheduled a week later.

Staff writers Randy Furst and Bill McAuliffe contributed to this report. raolson@startribune.com • 612-673-1747dchanen@startribune.com • 673-4465