Fired MPD officers called trash tree a ‘prank’

Updated: Aug. 24, 4 p.m. | Posted: Aug. 18, 5:07 p.m.

One of the two Minneapolis police officers who lost their jobs after decorating a 4th Precinct Christmas tree with racist items told an independent arbitrator they were playing a joke on a colleague whom they considered a “neat freak.”

News that the officer, Mark Bohnsack, got his job back after arbitration surfaced last week. In his decision to reinstate Bohnsack, arbitrator Jay Fogelberg said Bohnsack should have known his actions would have hurt members of the community. However, he said a suspension of several months, rather than termination, is the proper punishment. 

Bohnsack and officer Brandy Steberg were fired after decorating their precinct’s Christmas tree in November 2018 with an empty malt liquor can, a discarded menthol cigarette box and other items. The tree was visible to members of the public who entered the station, which is located in a mostly Black neighborhood of north Minneapolis.

"This behavior is racist, despicable, and is well beneath the standards of any person who serves the city of Minneapolis," Frey said in a statement after seeing photos of the tree posted on social media.

Chief Medaria Arradondo, who had made restoring public trust in the department one of his top priorities, said at the time he was “ashamed and appalled” by the officers’ actions. 

The police federation challenged the officers’ terminations. 

In the arbitrator’s ruling, which became public only recently, Fogelberg wrote that Bohnsack had an “outstanding work record” and said that Bohnsack took “responsibility for his actions and the harm they caused.” 

Steberg also challenged his firing, but ultimately decided to call it a career after undergoing surgery to repair injuries he suffered over his 23 years on the force. Back in March, the City Council agreed to settle a $180,000 workers’ compensation claim filed by Steberg for injuries his lawyer says the former officer sustained while on the job. As a part of his settlement, the city agreed to change his termination to a voluntary resignation.

“Essentially after having that surgery and making that decision with my family, it was not going to allow me to perform the essential functions of a police officer anymore," Steberg said.

Steberg is white and has patrolled predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city’s 4th Precinct for much of his career. He was also stationed there during the 18-day long protests outside the precinct over the police killing of Jamar Clark. However, Steberg said for the most part, officers and the community got along well. 

“They respected us and we respected them,” he said.

Steberg said the tree incident was blown out of proportion. It was a prank, he said, meant for a colleague at the station who was also white.

It was never meant to be seen by the community,” said Steberg. “And it was certainly never meant to be offensive or racially divisive in any sort of way.”

About half of Minnesota police officers get their jobs back or receive lesser discipline through arbitration, according to state data going back to 2013.

Editor’s note (Aug. 24, 2020): An earlier version of this story did not include the city of Minneapolis’ settlement provision regarding Steberg’s reason for departure from the Police Department. The above story includes the detail.

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