Sharp divisions persist over Walz’s response to the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS — MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Governor Tim Walz faced the biggest crisis of his political career when Minnesota’s two largest cities erupted in protests and riots after a white Minneapolis police officer George Floyd murdered.

The Murder of a black man in 2020 led to a national settlement about racial discrimination and police misconduct. His death and its complicated aftermath tested Walz’s leadership at one of the most pivotal moments in the state.

What the governor did — or failed to do — during and after the violence in Minneapolis and St. Paul drew sharp criticism from Minnesota Republicans and did not satisfy some progressives who had pushed him to take bolder steps to reform the state’s police force. Walz’s defenders say he did an exemplary job under unprecedented circumstances.

Four years later, now the national Democratic nominee for vice president, Walz faces similar questions and criticism, with Republicans calling him a left-wing radical who was too slow to respond, and some progressives saying he was not radical enough in his approach to police brutality.

A review by The Associated Press — based on government documents, consultants’ reports, news reports, video and audio recordings, as well as interviews with families, activists, lawyers and administration officials — paints a nuanced picture of how Walz navigated the challenge. As a relatively new governor, he sought to balance competing pressures and interests from local and federal officials, including then-President Donald Trump, while navigating the dangers of rapidly evolving protests and riots unfolding amid a deadly global pandemic.

“Sitting on the sidelines and criticizing is not what being governor is about. It’s making the tough decisions in the moment,” Walz said during a governors debate until 2022.

He defended how local, state and federal authorities worked together, saying it should serve as a model for other states. “I’m proud of Minnesota’s response; I’m proud of the Minnesota first responders who were there, from firefighters to police officers to the National Guard, to civilians who were there,” he said.

Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, Memorial Day. Bystander video His final cries of “I can’t breathe” quickly spread and fueled outrage. The protests were initially largely peaceful, albeit with some vandalism and clashes with police, as leaders struggled to balance protesters’ freedom of expression with the need to protect public safety.

Great looting began on May 27, two nights later. A Target store was looted. An auto parts store and several other businesses were set on fire. The police chief asked the mayor for help from the National Guard. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey would later say the governor hesitated, a charge Walz would deny.

Waltz, a 24-year veteran of the National Guard, approved a limited activation on May 28 to protect firefighters and the State Capitol complex and declared a peacetime emergency, though he still left most relief efforts to local authorities.

The destruction only worsened that night. Protesters seized control of the 3rd Precinct station, which quickly caught fire and was destroyed. The Guard did not arrive at the police station until several hours later, in the early hours of May 29.

That day, Walz criticized the “abject failure” of the city’s response. He said the state would take control and imposed a curfew.

“I will take responsibility,” Walz said, adding that he understood the criticism that the state had not acted quickly enough. “That is my fault,” he said.

After another night of violence between protesters and police, and more arson, the governor ordered a full mobilization of the Guard. He considered an offer from the Pentagon to send military police, but he did not accept it. The next day, May 31, he said Attorney General Keith Ellison, WHO enjoyed trust within the black community would take on the prosecution of the officers involved in Floyd’s death.

By the time most of the violence was over, more than 1,500 businesses and buildings had been damaged, with damage estimated at $500 million.

The Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate a series of hearings held about the unrest and the official response in July. The final report in October 2020, blamed the failure of executive leadership at the state and local levels and the reluctance of the Democratic governor and city leaders to confront their ideological allies.

“Governor Walz, his administration, and Mayor Frey failed to appreciate the seriousness of the riots and the danger to Minnesotans if rioters were not confronted and stopped,” the Senate GOP report said. “Both Governor Walz and Mayor Frey failed to act in a timely manner to confront rioters with the necessary force because of a poorly thought-out philosophical belief that such action would only exacerbate the riots.”

During recent appearances in Minnesota, Trump falsely claimed he was personally responsible for deploying the National Guard, even though it was actually Walz who gave the mobilization orders.

“Every voter in Minnesota needs to know that when the violent hordes of anarchists, looters and Marxists came to burn Minneapolis four years ago — remember? — I could not get your governor to act,” the Republican presidential candidate said in July. “He should have called in the National Guard or the Army. And he didn’t.”

That stands in stark contrast to the praise Trump heaped on Walz once the dust of the crisis had settled. Two days after Walz ordered the full mobilization of the National Guard, the then-president told governors and administration officials on a conference call that Minnesota’s chief executive had done a “superb job.”

“What they did in Minneapolis was unbelievable. They went in and dominated, and it happened right away,” Trump said, according to a audio recording of the conversation obtained by the AP. The audio shows that the president did not criticize the governor at the time. “Tim, you were calling out big numbers and the big numbers knocked them down so fast, it was like bowling pins,” Trump said.

Two independent third-party reviews, published in March 2022, found shortcomings in the responses from both the city and the state.

A report by the non-profit organization Wilder Research, by order of the Ministry of Public Security, cited a lack of clear leadership early in. The report said the state was late in setting up a multi-agency command center, four days after Floyd was killed. The report said the center had a “chaotic start,” with no clear chain of command, while the city continued to run its own emergency operations center with competing law enforcement strategies. The report also said the National Guard was mobilized too late.

A separate aftercare report commissioned by the city and conducted by risk management firm Hillard Heintze said Minneapolis officials who requested National Guard assistance were unfamiliar with the process, delaying the approval and deployment of troops.

In the months following the riots, Walz urged to sweep changes. He called lawmakers back into a special session that july. She prohibited neckbands such as in Floyd’s case, where officers were given the duty to intervene if they saw a colleague using excessive force.

Walz drew a modest police accountability package in 2021 that had some restrictions on no-knock warrants and created a database for police misconduct. Later in 2021, Governor opposed a ballot proposal in Minneapolis which had its roots in the “defund the police” movement. With Democrats in full control of the legislature in 2023, he signed stricter restrictions on no knock search warrant that although there was no ban, they were only allowed in very limited exceptions.

Some leaders of the police reform movement say Walz is more sympathetic to law enforcement than to protesters.

Del Shea Perry has called in vain for authorities to be punished after her son, Hardel Sherrell, died in what she saw as a preventable death in a northern Minnesota prison in 2018 from a medical condition. The lack of accountability was one of the reasons she took to the streets after Floyd was killed, and she remains unhappy with the governor.

“This whole administration has failed me,” Perry said. “We elected them to be our voice, and you’re not even going to work for us. And we promise to put you in that position, and this is what you do. You get the vote of the black people and then you’re gone.”

Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality in Minnesota, said Walz was largely unreceptive to policies that would have led to more meaningful improvements in police accountability. She pointed to stalled efforts to end a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which shields police officers from liability for misconduct, and a proposal to extend the statute of limitations for police wrongful death lawsuits.

“He’s been a little too quick to give the police what they want,” Gross said. “He’s not been as receptive to passing legislation that would actually fundamentally change the police. So that’s been a huge frustration.”

Political allies, leaders like Ellison, the state attorney general who convicted the four officers charged in Floyd’s death has long defended Walz’s response to the riots and his efforts to bring about change.

Ellison said Walz was in an “impossible situation” in the summer of 2020, but that he adequately balanced the concerns of a grieving city with the threats to public safety during the protests and during the long fight for reform.

“Someone’s loved one is killed by the police, and you can’t save that person because death is final,” Ellison said. “The best thing you can do is hold (the police) accountable.”

Ben Crump, the influential civil rights lawyer representing Floyd’s family, praised Walz as a “concerned and compassionate leader” for a grieving community in the wake of Floyd’s killing.

“He used his position to push for the passage of important police reform legislation that has stalled in many other jurisdictions,” Crump said. “All leaders who are brave enough to actually lead are scrutinized and criticized. Some feel they’ve gone too far and some feel they haven’t gone far enough. That’s usually an indication that they’ve found a necessary middle ground.”

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Associated Press editor Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.