Three Minneapolis police officers were cited for assault in Apple Valley last year after the officers, who are white, were among a group of white men who followed a group of black men into a bar parking lot, knocking one of them down and beating him, according to a police report obtained Thursday by the Star Tribune.
Racial slurs were used against the black man during the attack, the report said.
The officers, William C. Woodis, Christopher J. Bennett, and Andrew R. Allen, followed the men as they left Bogart's Place on Garrett Avenue, according to the police report. A security camera video shows the off-duty officers and the others follow the black men into the parking lot, the report said. The action then moved out of view of the camera. The video was not immediately available.
A lawyer for the three officers disputed that description of the encounter, saying his clients didn't chase anyone down, didn't use racial slurs and that the video shows that the alleged victims were the first to get physical, pushing one of the officers.
The Star Tribune learned about the altercation this week from a source. At the time of the original incident, the Apple Valley report didn't identify any of the men involved as Minneapolis police officers.
The case comes to light shortly after two white Minneapolis police officers were suspended over a June 29 altercation with black men outside a bar in Green Bay, Wis. In both cases, the officers involved were disrespectful toward local police who responded.
All five officers from the two cases are subject to Internal Affairs investigations.
One of the men identified as a victim in the Apple Valley incident, Rodney Spann, told the Star Tribune on Thursday that the group of white men shouted racial slurs while beating his uncle, Mike Spann. He said they slammed his uncle against two vehicles in the parking lot and knocked him to the ground before kicking and punching him. Rodney Spann tried to break up the fight but was hit in the face by Woodis, according to the report.
