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May 28, 2009 6:07 pm US/Central
Jury Rules No Excessive Force In Fong Lee Shooting
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
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Fong Lee's family claims an officer used excessive force when he shot Lee eight times on the grounds of a school in the summer of 2006.
CBS
A federal jury in St. Paul reached a verdict Thursday afternoon in the Fong Lee wrongful death lawsuit. Their conclusion: no excessive force was used in Lee's shooting.
The verdict was read without family, the officer in question or attorneys present in the courtroom. The Lee family were at lunch when the verdict was read.
It took the jury five hours of deliberation to reach their verdict.
When WCCO-TV's Caroline Lowe told Police Chief Tim Dolan of the verdict, he said, "Thank God."
Dolan also issued a statement: "Officer Andersen acted with courage and integrity in fulfilling his duty to serve and protect the people of Minneapolis. Unfortunately, in return, the department and Officer Andersen have had to endure highly inflammatory accusations that have unfairly caused hardship for him and his family. We are pleased that Officer Andersen has been vindicated, and now hope that we can all move forward and heal as a community."
The President of the Minneapolis Police Federation, Lt. John Delmonico, said he was not surprised by the verdict and said Officer Andersen was happy when they talked Thursday afternoon.
"Your average citizen when confronted with a gun will run away from this and police don't do that. Our job is to get guns off the street, gang members off the street. He pointed a gun at a cop and unfortunately he was killed," said Lt. Delmonico.
But not everyone was so pleased with the verdict.
"Today we are extremely sad and disappointed. Today, the justice system failed to answer the countless questions that my family has surrounding my brother's death," said Shoua Lee, Fong Lee's sister.
Lee's family claimed Andersen used excessive force when he shot Lee eight times on the grounds of a school in the summer of 2006. They claimed the 19-year-old was unarmed and alleged an officer planted a gun next to his body.
The jury received the case after two hours of final arguments by attorneys for both sides. The jury reviewed evidence that included several surveillance tapes from school cameras.
The Lee family's attorney Michael Padden told the jurors, regarding Andersen, that "almost from the time he got out of his squad he was a killing machine on auto-pilot."
Assistant city attorney Jim Moore told jurors the claims about a planted gun were a "fantastical story" and he accused the attorneys for Lee's family of "taking facts out of context, telling narratives not supported by evidence in this case."
The standard for proof in a civil court case is lower than the standard in a criminal case.
A Hennepin County grand jury cleared Andersen of any criminal wrongdoing when they reviewed the shooting.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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