Attorney: MPD fails to investigate reporter assault case where woman falsely charged
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An attorney for a St. Anthony woman who was falsely charged with assaulting a reporter during a protest in August is accusing Minneapolis police of failing to conduct a thorough investigation before riot and assault charges were filed in the case.
The Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office charged Lauren Peterson, 39, with the assault of a reporter for Alpha News on Aug. 24 during Minneapolis protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
The city attorney’s office dropped the charges Friday, but declined further statement about the case.
Alpha News is a conservative news site. The reporter recorded the assault, which included items including water bottles being thrown at her and being struck by a traffic cone. She later filed a story about the incident for the site.
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Peterson said she and her family started getting threatening messages on Facebook, through the mail and on her personal cellphone after charges were filed.
“We were concerned for our safety frankly because some of these comments were very threatening,” Peterson said. “They had put my home address in the comments on the news article, so that was out for everyone to see, and we have kids at home and I didn’t know what someone would do.”
According to the original criminal complaint, police received a tip that the woman who assaulted the reporter was named Lauren Peterson and lives in St. Anthony. The investigator wrote that he confirmed her identity by comparing a Facebook photo. But the complaint has no other information about the investigation.
Peterson was not even in the Twin Cities during the protests, and said she was camping at a state park in Aitkin County.
“We still at this point don’t know how they identified Lauren as a person of interest,” said attorney Kelly Keegan, who is representing Peterson. “I frankly fault the Minneapolis city police for not doing a thorough investigation.”
Minneapolis police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Keegan said her client is working to get the charges expunged from court records. She said they haven’t yet decided whether to file a lawsuit against the city or the department.