5 families of those killed in deadly force incidents file lawsuit against Minnesota BCA to release case info
MINNEAPOLIS — Their loved ones were killed by law enforcement, and now five Minnesota families are fighting for closure. They are suing the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to force the release of data connected to those deadly force incidents.
But now families say they're racing against a statute of limitations.
"He served this country for nine years and he was supposed to be brought to the hospital to get help, not to be pronounced dead," said Jim Shogren, father of Zachary Shogren, an Iraq War veteran who was shot and killed by Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force.
Another parent speaking out Thursday was Mark Sundberg, the father of Tekle Sundberg, who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police.
"We met with them, and the first thing they said was, 'What do you want to see?' And Cindy said, 'We want to see what you don't want us to see,'" Mark Sundberg said.
The Sundbergs and other families have together filed a lawsuit via Communities United Against Police Brutality. They want to get the BCA to turn over information they believe will give them closure and or a chance to pursue wrongful death lawsuits.
"What really happened to their loved ones — and the unfortunate fact was, as long as that was under investigation, that data was not public — but once the county attorneys decided not to charge the officers involved that data became public," said CUAPB's Chief Counsel Paul Bosnan. "And at that point it should be provided to the families upon request. The law says within 10 days, and in some cases, families have been waiting a year."
RELATED: An inside look at the Minnesota BCA's Force Investigations Unit
In the case of Dolal Idd, the three-year statute of limitations expires at the end of December, leaving his family little chance of a court challenge of what happened to him.
"These poor families have done everything they can to get that data and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has withheld it from them," CUAPB's Michelle Gross said.
The lawsuit asks for the BCA to fulfill the families' data request so they can begin to heal from the pain connected to the loss of their loved ones.
WCCO contacted the BCA for a response to the filing of the lawsuit, but have not heard back.