Posted on by John Edwards

Chief O’Hara Spreads the Blame in Bonkers Press Conference

Yesterday’s Chief O’Hara press conference had everything. He blamed a victim for getting shot; blamed those critical of police for making MPD’s job too hard; blamed prosecutors for making police scared to do their jobs; and he pissed off Council Member Andrea Jenkins so badly that she’s demanding the police — who we “pay a lot of money” — to “do their job.”

On Wednesday, John Sawchak shot his neighbor, Davis Maturi.

At a late Friday press conference, O’Hara responded to city council criticism about MPD’s failure to arrest the shooter: “Because of the intense attention that this incident has drawn, my officers are in even greater danger when trying to make an arrest. If the suspect did not know before that we were looking for him, he certainly knows now.”

The shooting happened in broad daylight in his front yard. You’d assume Sawchak already knows the police are onto him.

According to Maturi and his wife, Sawchak has harassed and stalked him since April, while using racial slurs. MPD hasn’t taken action. The city council isn’t happy about that either.

O’Hara said his department has been trying unsuccessfully to arrest Sawchak for six months. But Sawchak isn’t a fugitive. He’s not on the run. He’s just been hanging out in his house and raising hell in the neighborhood during that time.

Council Member Jenkins, who represents the Lyndale neighborhood where the shooting happened: “We have to take violent criminals off the street… I’m not a police officer. I don’t know how that gets done, but I know it needs to get done.”

O’Hara explaining why police can’t do their jobs: “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally a ill person.'”

Jenkins on KSTP: “I can tell you this. We pay our officers a lot of money to do the job they signed up to do. And so they should be willing to do their job.”

In a press conference that was supposed to be about why MPD hasn’t arrested Sawchak, O’Hara diverted briefly into blaming the victim for instigating the shooting — by doing yardwork. “The situation escalated in part by actions that were precipitated by the victim.” Sawchak had previously threatened Maturi not to touch the tree.

Maturi spoke to WCCO from his hospital bed last night, calling O’Hara “an effing liar.”

More from O’Hara:

  • “This incident highlights the sad reality of how the current rhetoric around policing in this city… hampers our ability to effect lawful arrests.”
  • “To be frank, the officers however are scared. They’re scared of being prosecuted if they get into a situation where they make a mistake trying to do their job and protect the public.”
  • “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, and it’s got to end.”
  • Speaking about the city council not calling him to ask for facts, before publicly criticizing him: “I thought we were on the same team. Apparently not. That’s a bad situation for the residents of the city.”
  • “At some point somebody needs to step up and say enough is enough, we need to do our jobs. Today that person is me.” I think this one is directed at police critics, not his officers.

O’Hara also disclaimed any connection between police and politics: “The police in this city are not politicians. I am not a political actor in this city. We are the police for everyone. We should not have this type of back and forth without any factual information at all.”

But like his predecessor, O’Hara has been known to make appearances on local TV news urging politicians to take the actions he wants — something the city’s other department leaders do not do.