Suspect in Minneapolis police precinct fire makes first court appearance

[SheltieLover]

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/suspect-in-minneapolis-police-precinct-fire-makes-first-court-appearance/

Apologies, I cannot copy text.

The story is this caucasian man admitted to this & equipment stolen from the police station was found in his possession.

He is charged with "aiding & abetting arson." WTH????

[mercuryblues]

1. just in case you're wondering

[Hortensis]

2. This 23-year-old isn't exactly one of MN's brightest bulbs.

Wolfe also identified himself in several photographs depicting him in front of the Third Precinct building holding a police baton, with smoke and flames visible in the background, the complaint says. ...

Wolfe was arrested Wednesday after St. Paul police received a complaint that he was trying to enter the Menards home improvement store on University Avenue. He had been a security guard at the store but had been fired earlier Wednesday after he referred to social media posts about him stealing items from the Third Precinct.

When he was arrested, Wolfe was wearing body armor and a police-issued duty belt and carrying a baton. The belt had handcuffs and a knife, and his name was written in duct tape on the back of the body armor, the complaint says. ...

Wolfe had been convicted of a petty-misdemeanor trespass charge and interfering with a 911 call, which is a gross misdemeanor. On the 911 case, charges of domestic assault, property damage, trespass and disorderly conduct were dismissed. He is on probation in that case until September 2021.

Wolfe’s father ... said he knew nothing of his son’s legal troubles or his political leanings. ... “He has grandiose ideas, a lot of them … and zero common sense,” Robert Wolfe said. ...

We're almost certainly going to find that Mr. Grandiose Ideas hangs on militant extremist social media. Likely assumed their civil war had started.

[SheltieLover]

3. Right!

"Zero common sense..." Is that coded to mean "troubled young man?" 🤬

BTW, there is a BLM petition with >11K signatures to charge 18 y/o with attempted murderfor for driving car into 4 protesters in Memphis.

https://www.change.org/p/memphis-police-department-charge-tony-marcuzzo-with-an-attempt-for-murder

One victim is said to be hospitalized, 3 were ok. How is this worthy of misdemeanor "reckless driving?" 🤬

[Hortensis]

4. Oh, brother. They can't take his license because he doesn't have one.

He may have a little trouble obtaining one after 4 counts of reckless endangerment and one of reckless driving. And of course being cited for "improper passing." Wonder if he or his parents will end up paying the girl's ER bill.

Marcuzzo struck four protesters, according to a court record which cites surveillance video footage. The Shelby County District Attorney's Office charged Marcuzzo with four counts of Reckless Endangerment and one count of Reckless Driving. Marcuzzo's bond was $0 and he was released on his own recognizance. At the scene Friday, he was released after officers issued him a citation for no driver’s license and improper passing, police said.

“Tony Marcuzzo was laughing. I was mortified when he so clearly wanted to hurt people when we asked him to turn around,” she said.

Another protester, Erin Dempsey, said she was taken to the hospital after the car dragged her for several feet.

According to an affidavit, officers say protesters blocked Marcuzzo when he was driving.

In the affidavit it says Marcuzzo slowly drove up to the protesters and pushed through four of them.

“In no way was this driver scared or acting in self-defense, as we’ve heard some people say,” said Dempsey.

Dempsey is doing ok, but told FOX13 what happened to her is unacceptable…

Oh, yes...!

[SheltieLover]

5. Reckless my ass

Sounds deliberate to me.

I'm furious after reading comments on change.org petition from supposed former classmates. 🤬

[Hortensis]

7. Went and read the comments, thanks. Absolutely penalties should

be strong enough to make him regret and be afraid to touch others with a moving car again, deliberately or just risking it if they didn't move out of the way. He almost certainly was feeling aggressive and looking for trouble by driving down that particular public street.

I'm afraid I don't agree with using the legal system as a weapon any more than I do cars, though, and never have. It was always wrong and good people have always fought it. Justice, when triggered, should be proportional. He very obviously never intended to murder anyone, nor of course was anyone murdered.

Just imagine if this 18-year-old were convicted of attempted murder, though, by a dystopian system that prosecuted based on petitions, and he spent the next 13 years in state prison, heck in that world maybe life. Or execution if the petitioners were really worked up. There's probably a movie, or 5, where he escapes to some underground and joins a revolution.

Seriously, this incident seems to me a classic argument for restoring the social programs that "small government" anti-tax conservatives shut down and for the inadequacy of throwing everything on the police. Since this adolescent did choose to drive where protests were occurring and to use a potential deadly weapon against others in an aggravated situation, creating some risk to others, including to the girl who grabbed his mirror and held on for 20 feet while he just kept going, that might trigger routine evaluation to assess potential future threat to others and sanctions and ameliorative counseling deemed appropriate applied. That record, of course, would also be considered should he ever commit a prosecutable crime in future.

Itm, his new record is not anything any of us would want to have to deal with, or our parents if we weren't responsible for paying our own penalties.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. A Florida man, to boot. Here's the story from a local source (Star Tribune)

“I’m still proud of him, whether he burned down the police station or not. He didn’t hurt nobody, did he?”

-------------

First hearing for arson suspect in Minneapolis Third Precinct case
Another hearing was scheduled for Thursday to determine if Branden M. Wolfe, 23, will be eligible for release.
Star Tribune
By David Chanen
June 9, 2020

Link: https://www.startribune.com/suspect-in-mpls-precinct-fire-makes-first-court-appearance/571137792/

(snip)

Branden M. Wolfe, 23, admitted to authorities that he was involved in the fire that heavily damaged the Third Precinct building following the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody, according to a criminal complaint. It says Wolfe also acknowledged he stole equipment from the building, some of which was recovered from his person and his apartment. Thus far, he is charged only with aiding and abetting arson.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer found that Wolfe qualifies for a free federal defender. Prosecutors asked that he be held in jail pending further hearings. A hearing was scheduled for Thursday to determine if Wolfe will be eligible for release.

But here's the big one on this asshole.....

Man charged with arson of Minneapolis Third Precinct station
A St. Paul security guard boasted on social media about the fire, gear theft.
Star Tribune
By David Chanen
June 9, 2020

Link: https://www.startribune.com/man-charged-with-arson-of-mpls-third-precinct-station/571115042/

(snips)

Wolfe admitted to being inside the Third Precinct the night of the arson, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. He took property from the building and pushed a wooden barrel into the fire, the complaint says. Wolfe also identified himself in several photographs depicting him in front of the Third Precinct building holding a police baton, with smoke and flames visible in the background, the complaint says.
+++
Law enforcement later recovered from Wolfe’s apartment additional items belonging to the Minneapolis Police Department, including a riot helmet, a 9mm pistol magazine, a police radio and a police-issued overdose kit.
+++
Wolfe’s father, Robert Wolfe of Macon, Ga., said he knew nothing of his son’s legal troubles or his political leanings. He said his son was raised by his mother and home-schooled in a suburb of Pensacola, Fla. “He has grandiose ideas, a lot of them … and zero common sense,” Robert Wolfe said.

As for the alleged arson, he said, “I’m still proud of him, whether he burned down the police station or not. He didn’t hurt nobody, did he?” Branden Wolfe has split time recently between Florida and the Twin Cities, where he has lived for about a year and where he and woman have a toddler daughter, his father said.

No wonder this guy is a wreck, with a father like that.

Now, there's a wife or girl friend and little girl to suffer along with his riot victims.

Florida boy, Florida daddy. We know Scott and DeSantis are so proud......