The second week of May was a deadly one when a police-involved shooting and a squad car colliding with a motorcycle led to the death of two men. Two officers were also wounded in the incident.
Minneapolis police said that Ivan Romero, 24, was killed when a squad car collided with the motorcycle he was riding. The officer, Joshua, Young, was responding to a supervisor request for more officers at the time of the motorcycle collision.
In an interview with two officers that came over a week after the shooting death of 22-year-old Terrance Franklin, police, the pieces are being put together.
Police say that Franklin hid in an Uptown home when he was confronted by police. During the confrontation, he tried to grab an officer’s gun.
The officers, Ricardo Muro and Michael Meath, were wounded in the incident and treated at a nearby hospital. Janee Harteau, Minneapolis Chief of Police, said that they had to be of a “sound mind” before they gave their statements because they had been placed on pain medication for their injuries.
Franklin’s friends and family stated that there is a lack of information regarding what happened in his death. The statements released by the police reiterated the fact that Harteau has offered to meet with Romero and Franklin’s families, but the families have declined this meeting.
Harteau said at a news conference that few details were given about the collision with Romero’s motorcycle. She said that the police car was only traveling up to 17 miles per hour and, when Young drove through a red light, traffic was stopped in both directions. Romero’s motorcycle rear-ended the squad car.
Police say that the ballistics evidence and DNA taken from the scene may take several more weeks to process.
The Minneapolis Police Department is performing the ballistics tests, while the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension performs the DNA tests. The police department says that the BCA does the DNA testing for all of their cases requiring it.
