The issue in the Minneapolis police shooting

[MineralMan]

22. Well, he likely faces criminal charges, so is remaining silent.

Any attorney would advise that, I'm sure. As for firing, that's a good thing to bring up. As is typical, he's on "paid administrative leave." Firing a cop can be complicated, unfortunately, but I think it's justified here. However this turns out, he doesn't appear to have the judgment required to be a police officer, I'd think.

But, the police union and contract make it very difficult to summarily fire a police officer. They can't fire him without "due process." They can suspend him, though, or keep him away from active duties.

Mayor Hodges is very frustrated by this incident, but really has no authority to demand anything from the Police. The investigation is being done by the State Department of Criminal Apprehension, our state FBI sort of agency. They do not have to report to the Mayor of Minneapolis or anybody else, so she's somewhat in the dark on this.

Worse, the Chief of Police is out of town on a personal trip. She simply isn't on the scene at all. And that's complicated by tense relationships between the cops and their Chief. She is not universally liked by the officers on her department. It's a complicated situation, and made more complicated by other incidents that have occurred in the past few years.

It is going to take some time before the whole story is told, if it ever is.

One thing I can guarantee, though: This shooting is going to cost the City of Minneapolis millions of dollars to settle. How many millions remains to be seen, but the civil suit in this case is going to be a huge one. It's not a good thing for the city.