By Marlo Safi
https://dailycaller.com/author/marlo/
Several Minneapolis residents went to court Monday, where they sued the city for failing to adequately staff police amid a rise in violent crime, WCCO reported Tuesday.
“Every single night on any block in this neighborhood you can hear gunshots!” plaintiff Cathy Spann said, according to WCCO. “Every single freaking night!”
Spann, who lives in the Jordan neighborhood of Minneapolis, was among the residents asking the city for more police protection. The judge heard their pleas for help in court Monday. City attorneys claimed that the lawsuit had no standing because the plaintiffs had not been hit by gunfire themselves.
“We walked outside and I pulled this bullet out of my house. Out of my home, out of my siding,” Resident Jon Lundberg, another plaintiff, said, according to WCCO.
Former city council member Don Samuels and his wife Sondra are among the plaintiffs, and were offended by the city attorney’s claim.
“To get standing we need to take a bullet, right? We’ve seen our neighbors take bullets. We know the 20 year old, we know the six month old who’s in the car when her mom gets shot up,” Sondra Samuels said, according to WCCO.
The plaintiffs blame the Minneapolis City Council’s efforts to defund the police for the rise in violence, and the attorney representing the plaintiffs, James Dickey, says the city would not say how many officers are on the street. A city charter says a minimum of 753 officers are needed to protect residents, according to WCCO.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/10/20/minneapolis-residents-sue-city-defund-police-crime-surge/