Upset at the amount of time it took Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to charge police officers involved in the George Floyd murder, Minneapolis citizens started a petition drive to oust him from office.
They set up “drive-through” petition stations at 38th and Chicago, where Floyd was killed; Third and East 38th Street and at La Doña Cerveceria at 2nd and Fremont Avenue N. Because three of the organizers of the drive live in Northeast, the empty field on the corner of 28th and Johnson Street NE became an “unofficial” drive-through petition site.
Drivers honked their horns as they passed – whether in solidarity or annoyance, it was hard to tell. Some swiftly found a parking space and walked over to sign their names.
The Recall Freeman website (recallfreeman.org) says, “Mike Freeman has violated the constitutional rights of all Black residents of Hennepin County by denying them equal protection of law. White cops and Black residents know that Mike Freeman will protect cops who kill Black folks.” Freeman, the organizers contend, has “developed a tight relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department. They’re so close, he can’t be trusted to be impartial when it comes to cases that involve police violence.”
A page devoted to the group’s rationale for recall says, “Mike Freeman has repeatedly committed malfeasance by abdicating his responsibility to prosecute white police officers who have murdered Black civilians, denying black victims of police violence equal protection under the law. Mike Freeman has also committed nonfeasance in failing to recuse himself as prosecutor of the Minneapolis Police Officers involved in the wrongful killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.”
Another page on the site contains the list of criminal charges against former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin and dissects Freeman’s actions surrounding each charge. For instance, on the first count listed on the charging document, third degree murder, the site says, “Mike Freeman deliberately choose [sic] not to charge Chauvin with 2nd Degree Murder though the evidence in this case supports such a charge. Freeman has routinely charged 2nd Degree Felony Murder when an intentional assault has resulted in the death of the victim. Chauvin’s kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes was an unlawful assault. Freeman provided Chauvin with the benefit of a less serious charge.”
[Two days after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz asked Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to take over the case, the attorney general added a second degree murder charge to the complaint against Chauvin and charged three other officers with aiding and abetting second degree murder while committing a felony and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter with culpable negligence.]
According to a press release, “Freeman’s betrayal of public trust runs so deep that we can’t wait until the next election. He must go now,” said Lena K. Gardner, a lead organizer for Recall Freeman. “It was so clear that Mike Freeman couldn’t be trusted to handle the case against Derek Chauvin, that Governor Walz had to step in and remove Freeman from the case. Now, as voters, we’re working to remove Freeman from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.”
By Minnesota law, a recall vote is triggered when 126,522 signatures – or 25% of registered Hennepin County voters — are obtained. They have to be “wet” signatures, i.e., on paper, rather than an online petition, to be considered legal. Signers must be registered to vote in Hennepin County.
After the signatures are collected, they’re sent to the Hennepin County Elections department to verify addresses and that petitioners are registered voters in Hennepin County. Once everything checks out, the petition is forwarded to the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, who determines if the case has merit. If the chief justice decides the case has merit, a public hearing is scheduled. If the petitioners can prove that Freeman has committed malfeasance and nonfeasance, the Secretary of State has 30 days to call an election.
As of June 16, less than two weeks after the petition drive began, 10,000 people had signed the petition. Anthony Hernandez, media contact for Recall Freeman, said they had gathered an additional 2,300 signatures a week later. He said they plan to have volunteers with clipboards at various events. The group is starting a fundraising campaign to raise $10,000 so they can go door to door.
The Northeaster contacted the Hennepin County Attorney’s office regarding the petition. Spokesperson Chuck Laszewski said they had no comment.
Below: A volunteer waved a Recall Mike Freeman sign to attract motorists’ attention. Some interested drivers parked nearby to sign the petition. Signing petitions at the corner of Johnson and 28th. (Photos by Cynthia Sowden)