{"id":4504,"date":"2017-07-11T20:09:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T20:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=4504"},"modified":"2026-08-11T20:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:13:29","slug":"outraged-at-the-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2017\/07\/11\/outraged-at-the-outrage\/","title":{"rendered":"Outraged at the outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where was Chief Harteau\u2019s statement when her officers killed Jamar Clark?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Harry Colbert, Jr., Managing Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outrage seems to be pretty selective these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of Minneapolis and the surrounding area has expressed outrage and utter disgust directed at a Minneapolis police officer in the July 8 shooting of two pit bulls. The shooting \u2013 captured on video \u2013 was the result of an accidentally tripped home alarm. An as yet unidentified officer climbed over the home\u2019s seven-foot privacy gate where he encountered the two pit bulls. One appears to be cautiously approaching the officer when the officer shoots the first dog. The second runs towards the officer and the officer shoots it three times. Thankfully both dogs survived the shootings. According to a statement released by Minneapolis Police Chief Jane\u00e9 Harteau the shooting is under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief seems pretty broken up by this particular police involved shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched the video, and as someone whose family has included dogs most of my life, I can say that it was difficult to watch,\u201d said Harteau in her statement, issued on July 10. \u201cThis was an outcome that no one wanted. I\u2019ve asked for an Internal Affairs use of force review. We are reaching out to the family to help them with the veterinary care bills to ensure that both dogs are adequately taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot to unpack there, so let\u2019s start unpacking. There are so many issues at play here. Let\u2019s start addressing the many elephants in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we agree this video was hard to watch, so too was the Nov. 15, 2015 video of Minneapolis Police Officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze killing an unarmed Jamar Clark \u2013 just 24 years old. We ask where was the swift statement of condemnation by the chief in that incident?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let it be said that I\u2019m not condoning the officer in this most recent case. But it should be noted that the officer who shot the two dogs is Black and the owner of the pit bulls is white. Call me a bit skeptical, but I\u2019m having a hard time believing had the ethnicity of the two been reversed the swift call for community justice may not have been made. And let the obvious be stated. No one is holding the ethnicity of the dog owners against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now back to Harteau\u2019s statement. The department is paying for the dogs\u2019 vet bills? That\u2019s a relief. Otherwise the dogs\u2019 owner would have to rely on the nearly $30,000-plus raised in just two days via a Go Fund Me campaign. I\u2019m sure the same contributors contributed handsomely to pay for Clark\u2019s medical and funeral<\/em> bills. But I digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was I? Oh yeah, Harteau\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo help us prevent similar outcomes in the future, we will be implementing updated mandatory training specifically for officers identifying effective tools and tactical strategies with police and dog encounters,\u201d said the chief in her swift statement. \u201cWe want both our officers and all our community members to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I too want both officers and all<\/em> community members to be safe. Which is why I\u2019m so perplexed that when the chief offered her statement in the killing of Clark \u2013 a statement that came nearly a year after the shooting \u2013 she concluded \u201cthe use of deadly force was warranted given the fact that both officers (Ringgenberg and Schwarze) feared for the loss of life.\u201d Not once in her statement did she call for \u201cupdated mandatory training.\u201d In fact, Harteau praised her killing officers saying, \u201cThese officers did not have the opportunity to negotiate or tactically withdraw,\u201d and \u201cI have concluded that these officers did not dictate the outcome of this incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victim blame much Chief Harteau?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on your statement in the Clark killing, why even investigate the dog shooting? Certainly the officer in this shooting didn\u2019t have the opportunity to \u201cnegotiate or tactically withdraw.\u201d Of course the officer did not dictate the outcome. It was all the dogs\u2019 fault. How dare them be dogs \u2026 on their own property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess when you look at it, Ringgenberg and Schwarze aren\u2019t to blame in killing Clark. How dare Clark have the audacity to be openly Black? After all, that\u2019s the real reason he\u2019s dead. Can we finally quit dancing around that truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m pained that two innocent dogs were shot by a Minneapolis police officer. But I\u2019m downright disgusted and heartbroken that Black human beings<\/em> in America and right here in the Twin Cities are being shot seemingly daily at the hands of police. It appears dogs are more beloved and entitled to justice than Black men, women and children in America \u2026 in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief Harteau, that\u2019s my statement of outrage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where was Chief Harteau\u2019s statement when her officers killed Jamar Clark? By Harry Colbert, Jr., Managing Editor Outrage seems to be pretty selective these days. Much of Minneapolis and the surrounding area has expressed outrage and utter disgust directed at a Minneapolis police officer in the July 8 shooting of two pit bulls. The shooting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2799,2348,2800],"class_list":["post-4504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-chief-harteau","tag-jamar-clark","tag-minneapolis-police-chief","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-11-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4506,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504\/revisions\/4506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}