Minneapolis auditor says lack of police cooperation in dual probes is creating costly delays

The Minneapolis Police Department is ordering its officers to cooperate with the city auditor’s office amid a probe into how it handled two high-profile cases after a city official raised accusations of stonewalling.

The police department has faced widespread criticism for its investigations into the two 2024 incidents, one in which a woman was found dead in her apartment, the other in which a man was shot by his neighbor. Last month, City Auditor Robert Timmerman expressed frustration during a public meeting about the police department’s “resistance” and “delays” to the investigation.

The complaints led to the order for cooperation last week from the police department’s second-in-command to all MPD employees.

“All command and supervisory personnel will be held responsible for ensuring compliance with this directive,” reads the Nov. 5 memo issued by Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell. In bold, it continues: “Failure to comply shall result in discipline.”

The city auditor’s office launched the investigation, known as an after-action review, into the two cases: First, the February 2024 death of Allison Lussier, a case police say remains unsolved because they could not determine the manner of death. The 47-year-old Native woman’s family believes she was the victim of a domestic killing at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend.

The following October, Davis Moturi, a 35-year-old Black Minneapolis resident, was shot in the neck allegedly by his white neighbor John Sawchak. Moturi and his wife called the police on Sawchak at least 19 times in the year leading up to the shooting, but an arrest never came until five days after Moturi was shot.

In a meeting last month of the city’s Audit Committee, Timmerman expressed his frustration and detailed how his staff were met with delays and “great resistance” from police in the reviews of the Lussier and Moturi cases.

“It is incredibly frustrating we are not getting participation from MPD,” Timmerman said.

Timmerman said the delays are part of the reason why the estimated cost to contract with an outside law firm to assist with the investigation has doubled from $90,000 to about $200,000.

A city spokesperson said in a statement following Timmerman’s complaints that it’s “unfortunate that the concerns have been escalated through the public presentation when this situation could have been avoided.”

“In the future it is our hope that the auditor will work with the Commissioner and Chief from the beginning to ensure expectations are clearly communicated,” spokesman Brian Feintech wrote.

Listening to the delays Timmerman faced was “infuriating” for Moturi, who lamented “they’re still dragging their feet.”

Lussier’s family disputes the police narrative that evidence collected from her apartment pointed to drug use rather than overt signs of violence. They believe the head injury listed as her cause of death was the result of physical abuse that police overlooked because of her ongoing struggles with substance use.

Lussier’s aunt Jana Williams said she has no confidence in the auditor’s investigation getting to the truth of what happened. She wasn’t shocked when Timmerman listed his grievances with police.

“That was not at all surprising to me,” Williams said. “I feel like with a department that is willing to cover up the negligence of their department, of their officers, what are they not capable of covering up?”

The review for Moturi’s shooting was supposed to be completed by December, but it has been pushed back to an anticipated February completion.

Timmerman said he met with deputy and assistant chiefs to explain what the city charter requires from police in terms of cooperation with auditors, only to later determine the information was not relayed to all officers.

Timmerman since has met with Police Chief Brian O’Hara and the auditor’s expectations have been relayed, police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten said, adding that interviews are now underway. To address O’Hara and Timmerman’s concerns, the auditor provided a document to be circulated explaining the office’s role. That document was sent to all sworn and civilian staff on Nov. 5, along with the order from the police department to cooperate.

Timmerman’s presentation included a timeline titled “Example of resistance and delay” in his probe into the Moturi case.

Timmerman said his office reached out to an investigator in August, who responded positively at first. But, “within less than a week it was clear that this person was starting to get coached” by the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, the union that represents rank-and-file officers.

One of the emails the auditors received from a police investigator asked, “Could I be subject to discipline if you believe that any answer I provide is incomplete or untruthful?”

Timmerman said he found the email alarming.

Federation President Lt. Sherral Schmidt rejected Timmerman’s claim that the union was “coaching” officers on how to respond and denied that any of the officers were asking if they can lie. She said it’s important for the federation members to ask questions to ensure their rights are protected and entitled to union representation.

“That is what we are elected to do, is to make sure their rights are protected,” Schmidt said. “And when you can’t answer simple questions about whether they’re subject to discipline or if these are mandatory meetings, that, of course, raises red flags for us and we are going to ask some more questions.”

A statement from the Federation said the “suggestion that the union or its members have impeded the City’s work is simply untrue and appears designed to deflect attention from the City’s own delays, mismanagement and shifting priorities.”

Before he was shot in the neck while working in his yard, Moturi reported numerous incidents since he purchased the home with his wife in the fall of 2023. That includes Sawchak allegedly making violent threats, screaming racist slurs or committing vandalism such as shoving feces through the mail slot.

One time, Moturi recalled, Sawchak threatened him with a scythe as Moturi was on a ladder installing a security camera. Sawchak seemed to reserve the most severe harassment for Black people, Moturi said. He also is adamant the police department should have done more given the number of incidents he reported.

Moturi objected to the reasoning and said police should have done more to apprehend Sawchak quickly. He recalled being shocked as he sat in his hospital bed, checking his security camera footage expecting to see a heavy police presence, but finding none.

Moturi said he sees parallels among the resistance Timmerman experienced, his own challenges with delays and what he saw as his own past interactions with police.

“That experience that the auditor had with MPD, that was the same exact experience that I had with MPD,” Moturi said. “Luckily his life is not on the line here. But I ran into the same roadblocks that he is running into now.”