St. Paul police release new surveillance video of trespassing arrest in public skyway

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Saying they wanted to provide a broader perspective, St. Paul Police Department officials released surveillance video Wednesday of the arrest of a man who had been sitting in a downtown skyway, an incident the man says was racially motivated.

Chris Lollie says he was doing nothing wrong in January when police responded to a security guard's report of a man refusing to leave, questioned him, then used a Taser on him. Lollie, who is black, posted a cellphone video showing part of the incident on YouTube on Aug. 26. It's been viewed over 1.25 million times.

At least two of the three officers were white. Lollie has threatened to sue.

Police released two security camera videos Wednesday. One shows Lollie sitting in a lounge in the skyway of the First National Bank Building, speaking with a guard, then eventually leaving. The other, from the Securian Center, shows Lollie having an apparently heated discussion with three officers. He struggles with them as he's shocked, taken to the ground, searched, arrested, helped to his feet and taken away.

Unlike Lollie's cellphone video, which includes audio of him insisting he had been acting within his rights, there's no audio with the security videos.

Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Paulos explained some general details about what the videos showed but did not take questions from reporters during a news conference. He said the department is conducting a "fair and impartial investigation."

City Attorney Sara Grewing said last week that her office dropped the charges against Lollie, including trespassing and disorderly conduct, because the area where he was sitting was a public place.

The St. Paul Police Federation issued a statement Wednesday saying the videos "show that the officers involved handled the situation professionally and in accordance with their training. ... Mr. Lollie has no one to blame but himself for the fact that he was arrested."