{UAH} A Black Officer, a White Woman, a Rare Murder Conviction. Is It ‘Hypocrisy,’ or Justice?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/us/mohamed-noor-guilty.html

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Mohamed Noor, center, was found guilty this week in the fatal police shooting of Justine Ruszczyk.CreditCraig Lassig/Reuters

By John Eligon

• May 3, 2019

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The national debate over race and policing has felt particularly close to activists in Minneapolis, who viewed several cases in their region as examples of police officers not being held accountable for killing black civilians.

But when the justice system finally came down on an officer in a fatal shooting this week, it was not exactly the victory those activists had been seeking.

Mohamed Noor, who is black, Somali and Muslim, became the first Minnesota police officer convicted of murder in an on-duty killing, when a jury found him guilty on Tuesday in the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk, who was white.

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While many in the community said Mr. Noor should have been held accountable, they could not help but wonder what the outcome would have been if the races of the officer and the victim had been flipped.

"This is an anomaly based on the race of the officer, and the race and affluence of the victim," said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and activist in Minneapolis. "The system treats African-Americans and white people differently, whether they are the victim in a police-involved shooting case or whether they are the police officer. This is absolutely outrageous."

Even as activists and community leaders said that Ms. Ruszczyk deserved justice and expressed their condolences for her family, the verdict raised uncomfortable questions about the racial dynamics of the case.

Some saw a system and a society that was quick to embrace and sympathize with Ms. Ruszczyk, a benefit that black victims rarely enjoy. Others felt that Mr. Noor did not get the vocal support of the police establishment that they usually see in police-shooting cases and wondered whether this would deter black people from law enforcement careers.

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"The only difference is that the officer involved in the shooting in this case happened to be a black Muslim immigrant, and the deceased person is a Caucasian lady," said Waheid Siraach, a former police officer and a founder of the Somali-American Police Association. "People can put the two and two together."

[Read about Ms. Ruszczyk's familyreceiving a $20 million settlement from Minneapolis.]

Legal action against police officers involved in fatal shootings is exceedingly rare. Since 2005, 101 nonfederal officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter in shootings while they were on duty, according to Philip Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. About 36 percent of those officers have been convicted, but only four of them on murder charges; the others were for lesser offenses.

In 2016, a police officer in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., shot and killed Philando Castile, who was black, during a traffic stop. The officer, who was Latino, was charged with manslaughter and acquitted by a juryafter saying he had feared for his life.

In the Noor case, Mike Freeman, the Hennepin County prosecutor, was criticized by some who said he was holding Mr. Noor to a different standard than he has white officers — an accusation that the prosecutor fiercely denied after the verdict was announced.

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"I've heard a small group in the community make disparaging remarks about me and this office to the effect that I won't charge white cops who shoot black people, but I'll charge black cops who shoot white people," he said during a news conference. "That simply is not true. Race has never been a factor in any of my decisions and never will be."

In 2016, Mr. Freeman chose not to charge officers in the shooting death of Jamar Clark, who was black, saying Mr. Clark had grabbed one officer's holstered gun. Last year, he did not charge the officers who pursued and shot at Thurman Blevins, killing him; Mr. Freeman said Mr. Blevins, who was also black, had a gun and did not follow the officers' commands. In the killing of Travis Jordan this January, the prosecutor said the police officers had faced a deadly threat because Mr. Jordan, who was Hawaiian, had a knife and was coming toward them.

Mr. Freeman argued that the details in those cases were different from those in the shooting of Ms. Ruszczyk. Each case is handled on its own merits, he said, and the facts showed that Mr. Noor, who was fired from the Minneapolis Police Department after the shooting, had acted unreasonably.

Ms. Ruszczyk, who sometimes used the last name of her fiancé, Don Damond, had called the police late one night in July 2017 to report hearing what sounded like a woman in distress in the alley behind her house. Mr. Noor and his partner were in their squad car in the alley investigating when Ms. Ruszczyk approached.

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Mr. Noor, 33, testified during the trial that he had heard a bang and had fired one shot from the passenger's seat when Ms. Ruszczyk appeared at the driver's side window.

Mr. Noor's explanation did not convince the racially diverse jury, which convicted him of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Prosecutors seemed to imply at one point during the trial that Ms. Ruszczyk's appearance should not have been threatening.

"Her whole blonde hair, pink T-shirt and all, that was all threat to you?" Amy Sweasy, an assistant county attorney, asked Mr. Noor during cross-examination, according to The Star Tribune.

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