The only difference between Champaigne Hale and Justine Ruszczyk is Hale is still alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s what supporters of Hale are telling the public following an Aug. 10 encounter with Minneapolis Police Department officers. Like Ruszczyk, who was killed in July 2017 after calling Minneapolis police to report a possible crime, Hale say her mother\u2019s call to police to report an assault resulted in Hale, 28, being brutally beaten and tasered simply for opening the front door to her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI opened the door and they immediately attacked me,\u201d said Hale, following an Aug. 19 news conference called by varying groups including the Minneapolis and St. Paul branches of the NAACP, the Minneapolis Urban League, Communities United Against Police Brutality and Freedom Now, Free the Land. \u201cThe officers came in and immediately attacked me with no questions asked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hale\u2019s brother, Lee Evans, 29, corroborates Hale\u2019s account. Evans said, disturbingly, the police knew their actions were unlawful, making reference as to if they were being recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI heard a cop ask if the body cams were on and another officer said \u2018no,\u2019 and that\u2019s when I saw him (a Minneapolis police officer) punch my sister and after that I went to my sister\u2019s aid and at that point I was attacked,\u201d said Evans, who said he was then tasered two times by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now as a result of the incident Hale and Evans \u2026 first, witnesses and potential victims to the underlying reason for the police call \u2026 are now both victims and accused. Hale, whose photos of her many injuries were placed throughout the room of the press conference, is now facing two felony counts of assault on a police officer and Evans is facing one felony count of assault on a peace officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen is enough, enough,\u201d asked Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP. \u201cGov. (Tim) Walz, (Minneapolis) Mayor (Jacob) Frey, when is enough, enough?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redmond said an even greater injustice occurred when Hale was arrested and instead of being placed in a jail cell she was placed in a psychiatric ward because she told officers she didn\u2019t feel safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel safe,\u201d said Redmond. \u201cRaise your hands in this room if you don\u2019t feel safe with what\u2019s going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A majority of hands went up in the room of almost all Black spectators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFive cowardly men came into this home and beat this woman (Hale) and I\u2019d have taken the same beating her brother took to protect my sister,\u201d said activist John Thompson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat Lee did was heroic. He saw five grown men beating his sister and he put his body in front of hers to protect her from being beaten \u2026 to protect her from being tased,\u201d said Redmond, who said she intends to start the social media hashtag, #BeLikeLee, to bring further light to the situation and Evans\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat you see here is a whooping from head to toe,\u201d said Spike Moss, founder of Freedom Now, Free the Land, pointing to the photos of Hale. \u201cIt\u2019s time for community action. We\u2019re talking, we\u2019re walking, we\u2019re pushing back and it has to start with this child (pointing at Hale).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moss called for a march on the state capitol to force the governor to address the issue of police brutality in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n