Nov 29, 2007 8:27 am US/Central
In The Know: Mpls. Police Lt. Huffman 'Classless'
(WCCO)
This month, the head of Minneapolis's homicide unit told the media a father killed out on a bike ride was trying to buy drugs. That allegation came from one source: the suspected killer. Don Shelby found the police behavior shocking then and now says they just made things a lot worse.
First, homicide chief Lt. Amelia Huffman held a news conference and trotted out the drug buy theory for reporters. It was wrong to do. Investigators had put no such evidence in their complaint. The "facts" had come from the alleged killer.
Huffman smeared a victim's name and his wife and four daughters are left to live with Huffman's classless, "blame the victim" pronouncements.
The family was devastated. Investigators Sgt. Charlie Adams and Sgt. Richard Zimmerman apologized to the victim's family for Huffman's statement. The officer's apology ran as a story in the newspaper.
Today, Sgt. Adams was removed from homicide detail. For the record, Adams has been one of the most successful murder investigators ever in that unit.
No matter. Today he was sent packing. The official reason: insubordination for talking to the press.
Zimmerman also talked to the press, but wasn't transferred. Police officials told Adams he made the department look bad. Wrong. By apologizing, and letting the public know, Adams made the department look good.
Lt. Amelia Huffman was the one who made the department look bad.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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