Walz says he'll dig into accusations BCA failed early in Noor probe
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Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday he's looking into criticism of the early work of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as it investigated the killing of 911 caller Justine Ruszczyk by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor.
Hennepin County prosecutors rapped the quality of the BCA's early investigation of the Noor shooting. Following Noor's conviction Tuesday on murder and manslaughter charges, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the BCA made early mistakes in the probe but that after hearing his office's complaints, it replaced agents on the case with two who did an "exemplary" job.
"On every investigation I've been involved in — with the exception of the Noor case — the work was superb," Freeman said, adding that he believed the rift between his office, the BCA and Minneapolis police had since been repaired.
The BCA typically oversees police shooting investigations in Minnesota. Watchdog groups, however, have criticized the agency as cop-friendly in past investigations where officers were ultimately found to be justified in using deadly force.
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Those criticisms resurfaced in the Noor trial when agents acknowledged they took the statement of Noor's partner, officer Matthew Harrity, over coffee and doughnuts at his lawyer's home three days after the shooting.
Ruszczyk's father, John Ruszczyk, said Tuesday he believed the conviction in his daughter's killing came despite the "incompetence" on the part of some in the BCA.
Asked Wednesday about criticism of the BCA's performance, Walz told reporters, "I need to understand what happened here and what brought up those accusations, and to understand whether we can validate them, and if we do what are the processes to move to alleviate that."
He said his office is collecting information and that he'd asked for a report as accusations of poor work by the BCA surfaced.
"Our commitment is ... we expect those practices to be best practices. We expect them to follow the law and the processes," he said.
In a statement earlier Wednesday, before Walz's comments, the BCA told MPR News that "officer involved shooting investigations are among the most challenging conducted by the BCA. Our agents conduct thorough, comprehensive and independent investigations in order to present all the facts to a county attorney for review."
"In this case, BCA agents did just that, working 2,037 hours and writing over 260 reports while working closely with the Hennepin County Attorney's Office from the beginning," the statement reads.
The agency declined further comment on its Noor investigation, saying it remains open because of the possibility of a Noor appeal.
MPR News reporter Jon Collins contributed to this report.