Anti-Police Vandals Deface Cop, Firefighter and Soldier Statues in Eagan
This week the Eagan Police Department invited residents of the Twin Cities suburb to an open forum on policing. It was an effort to reach out to those with concerns in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in police custody and the massive protests that followed.
But this is what the authorities got in response to their attempt to find common ground.
Vandals defaced three bronze statues honoring a policeman protecting a young girl, a firefighter, and a soldier respectively outside the city’s community center. The initials “BLM” presumably representing the radical Black Lives Matter group were spray-painted on the statue of the police officer with an expletive that was edited out of the Eagan Police Department photo.
The department’s good-faith effort to be more transparent and open to the public was called “Building Bridges and Trust Between Citizens and Law Enforcement.” But the authorities canceled the event on Tuesday night when concerns mounted over a protest that was organized to counteract the police attempt to foster better relations with the residents they serve, according to the police department’s Facebook page.
The Eagan Police Department planned to have a community conversation to hear citizens’ concerns surrounding policing, however we had to cancel the event due to a protest that was scheduled to occur at our event. Organizers of the protest indicated this was going to be a peaceful rally, but as you can see from the attached photos, this was far from the case. We are asking for the public’s help in identifying anyone responsible for the vandalism at our Community Center.
The Eagan PD also issued a photo of a woman defacing city property with graffiti.
The Star Tribune reports a possible connection to the protest earlier in the evening.
Police also released a photo of a woman vandalizing a band shell wall with a similar theme along with the first name of Isak Aden, a 23-year-old man who was fatally shot by Eagan police during a standoff in July 2019.
The “No Trust Without Accountability!” protest was organized by the grass-roots Justice For Isak Aden Committee. Among the speakers was Sumaya Aden, Isak’s sister. Messages were left with the group seeking comment about the gathering Tuesday and the graffiti that was left behind.
In November, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom declined to charge officers who shot Aden, concluding the use of deadly force was legally justified because Aden lunged for a gun he had set down on the ground, then raised his hand that was holding the weapon. Five officers opened fire. Aden was shot 11 times.
Authorities are asking the public for tips on who’s responsible for damaging the city’s statues. Here’s hoping they find and prosecute the perpetrators faster than the vandals who tore down the Christopher Columbus statue on June 10 at the State Capitol. After the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension slow-walked the investigation over to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, no one has been charged yet, two months later.