A man has filed a civil rights lawsuit after alleging two Minneapolis police officers assaulted him amid a series of events that started with him seeking a jumpstart for his disabled car.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Said Abdullahi accused officers Daniel Barlow and Sergio Villegas of violating his constitutional rights in a complaint filed Tuesday in Minnesota U.S. District Court, claiming they shoved him to the ground, then wrongfully jailed him to cover up their unlawful conduct.
Body-camera footage from the incident reportedly shows officers attempting to move Abdullahi, a Black man, out of a roadway in south Minneapolis. Barlow shoves Abdullahi, and Villegas pushes him backward into the street.
Abdullahi recorded the exchange on his cellphone because he thought the officers treated him “unfairly.”
“The most serious force used on Mr. Abdullahi, akin to a blindside block, has caused serious harm and even death in other instances,” attorney Jeff Storms said in a statement Tuesday.
The lawsuit alleges that Abdullahi asked a man in a parked car for a jump-start on April 22, 2022, and the man responded by threatening him with a “knife and a baseball bat” before calling 911.
Villegas and Barlow arrived, and the latter told the 911 caller, “There’s obviously no threat here,” adding that Abdullahi was “just an idiot,” the Star Tribune reported.
The officers called Abdullahi “[expletive] stupid” after he asked to speak to their supervisor, the lawsuit says.
In his police report, Villegas said he and Barlow informed Abdullahi they would arrest him if he did not leave the other driver alone. He said Abdullahi “slapped my partner’s hand away” when they attempted to move him out of the street, omitting the fact that Barlow shoved him.
Villegas acknowledged he “pushed Abdullahi to the sidewalk,” but said, “Abdullahi lost his footing and fell down.”
The officers cited Abdullahi, 37, for misdemeanor disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped after he spent three nights in jail.
Abdullahi is suing Villegas, Barlow and the city of Minneapolis, alleging that the officers misused their authority to violate his First and Fourth Amendment rights, actions described in the complaint as a “widespread custom” of Minneapolis police to retaliate against anyone who records them.
Minneapolis spokesman Casper Hill said the city had not been served with the complaint and declined to comment, according to the Star Tribune.
Villegas was among a group of officers listed in another federal complaint filed by protesters who claimed area police assaulted them during peaceful protests after the murder of George Floyd.
The civil complaint said Villegas came up behind protester John Mason and pepper-sprayed him while he was having a non-confrontational discussion with a State Patrol officer. Minneapolis paid $700,000 to resolve the allegations, which included retaliation and First Amendment breaches.
Abdullahi’s civil complaint — in which he requests monetary damages — references that lawsuit, allegations of a pattern of free-speech violations made by the Justice Department, and dozens of other misconduct cases against Minneapolis police as evidence of a practice of excessive force inside the police force.
“It is sheer luck that the consequences of this unlawful conduct were not worse,” added Storms. “If the MPD is going to make genuine efforts to rebuild its trust with communities of color, this conduct cannot be tolerated, and the consequences must be meaningful.”
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