The brief video is startling in its violence and intensity. A driver rear-ends a St. Paul Police squad car in broad daylight, then charges at the officer with a knife. While ordering him to drop the weapon, the officer falls to the ground screaming, pulls out his gun and shoots his assailant.
For some city council members and political hopefuls, the body cam footage released by the St. Paul Police Department this week seems to clear Officer Steven Mattson from wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Ronald Davis. They see it as underscoring the dangers facing men and women in uniform.
“From that video, it looks pretty cut and dried that the officer was defending himself,” said Ward 4 candidate Chris Holbrook, who lives three blocks from the Thomas Avenue intersection where the fatal encounter occurred. “If a guy was coming at me with a knife, I’d probably do the same thing. This was actually a physical act of aggression that the officer was trying to ward off.”
Other candidates for St. Paul City Council have taken the opposite tack. After the video was released Tuesday, Danielle Swift, a candidate for the Ward 6 seat on St. Paul’s East Side, uploaded a two-and-a-half minute video statement to Facebook saying she refused to watch it.
“You think that they don’t plant evidence? You think they can’t tamper with those videos?” said Swift in her upload. “For the record, I’m not watching that video. … I don’t have to watch the man get shot and killed to know that it was wrong. … If anyone needs to issue any apologies, it needs to be the SPPD (St. Paul Police Department).”
Elsewhere in the video, she brings up an incident where a customer at the Midway Walmart drew a weapon on an officer at close range.
“You want to know how long black men have been vilified in this country? … Let’s not forget there was a white man in the Midway at Walmart who held a gun to a police officer’s head and did not lose his life in that instance,” Swift said. “Do not forget that.”
Swift and Ward 1 city council candidate Anika Bowie joined a small group of activists who held a press conference outside the police department’s Western District early Tuesday evening.
Bowie, who is vying to represent the Summit-University, Frogtown and Union Park area, told reporters she has family and friends who knew Davis.
“He was a father, he was a husband, he was a student, he was a resident,” she said. “He was someone that needed help.”
‘A CLEAR AND UNMISTAKABLE ESCALATION’
Ward 4 Council Member Mitra Nelson, who last year advocated for revisions to police use-of-force policies, was among those who had called for a swift release of the body cam footage following the Sept. 15 incident. The fatal encounter occurred in her ward.
“Today’s footage showed an officer placed in an incredibly disturbing and violent situation in the face of a clear and unmistakable escalation,” said Nelson, in a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday night. “Still, many in our community are reeling today with questions about what could have been done to de-escalate this incident and arrive at a non-lethal outcome.”
She added later in the post, “This incident did not happen in a vacuum by itself. It happened in a world where white mass shooters are regularly brought in alive by police officers in our country. It happened in a world where black children have been shot by police for holding their toys in public…
“Under our current (use of force) policy as it stands, this instance of deadly force demands a thorough review, and I will be following up with SPPD and Mayor Carter to ask for the policy and process we’ve put in place for these incidents to be put into action.”
Holbrook, one of Nelson’s two challengers in Ward 4, said he took issue with her “spinning this into a commentary on white mass shooters” while posting upbeat campaign selfies to social media throughout the week in her bicycle gear.
‘WE WOULD ALL FEAR FOR OUR LIVES’
Ward 1 Council Member Dai Thao has called for city investments in Shotspotter technology to track gunshots and anti-gun violence initiatives. He expressed sadness and alarm at Davis’ actions.
“I don’t know what situation a man would be in, how desperate he would be to act out the way he did,” Thao said. “We don’t know the whole thing. It’s unfortunate that Officer Mattson was put in that situation, where he had to protect his own safety. Members of the community, if we were in that situation, I think we would all fear for our lives.”
Ward 3 candidate Patricia Hartmann, an attorney running for office in the Highland Park and Mac-Groveland area, said she has struggled to get requested records from the police in the past and was happy this case was different.
“I know the footage was released, which I thought was a very good thing for the police to do,” said Hartmann, who said she had yet to watch the video herself. “Sometimes when there’s ongoing investigations, they have a tendency to delay the release of those records. I definitely support the concept that the police department is at least trying to be transparent.”
Ward 2 candidate Lindsay Ferris Martin said the footage brought her to tears, for both men’s families.
“Jumping to conclusions without all the facts inflicts more pain and anger onto everyone,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with taking our time in learning the full scope, cause and reaction to situations like this. All the while we wait, we can
continue to reach out to our neighbors in pain and take the time to understand each other better.”