A police officer in Minnesota fatally shot a man after the man rear-ended the officer's marked SUV, then got out of his car and started fighting with the officer, authorities said.
Authorities have not said whether the man had a weapon when the St. Paul police officer shot him during the fight Sunday evening. Police Sgt. Mike Ernster said the officer's body camera was activated, but the video has not been released.
Ernster said the officer was stopped at a stop sign in the city's Midway neighborhood when he was "suddenly struck from behind by another motor vehicle. The officer exited his vehicle and was immediately confronted by the driver of the striking vehicle and a fight ensued."
Investigators work the scene of an officer-involved shooting in the Midway area of St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. A St. Paul police officer fatally shot a man who rear-ended his squad car and fought with the officer, according to the police department. (John AuteyPioneer Press via AP)
The Ramsey County medical examiner's office said Ronald Davis, 31, of St. Paul was the man who was shot by the officer. An autopsy was performed Monday, but there are no preliminary findings yet and the death is still under investigation.
The shooting comes as police deal with a stretch of violence in the city that led police Chief Todd Axtell to beef up street patrols.
In a Facebook post, Axtell said the officer was "faced with one of the most gut-wrenching situations imaginable" and it "is a tragedy for everyone involved." He extended condolences to the family of the man who died and said his department will do what it can to support the officer.
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating. The bureau said Monday that it was conducting interviews with those involved and with witnesses.
According to local media reports, at the time of the incident, someone could be heard on police emergency radio shouting, "Drop the knife, drop the knife!"
Ernster confirmed that the St. Paul officer made those radio transmissions, but said that state investigators were processing the scene and he did not know whether a knife had been recovered.
The name of the officer was not immediately released. The officer was placed on administrative leave, which is standard in police shootings.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that a City Council member and the head of the St. Paul NAACP joined community members in calling for the release of the officer's body camera footage.
"Our body cameras are supposed to capture moments gone wrong, moments of tragedy, everything in between and I just think we really, really need to be able to see that right now," City Council member Mitra Jalali Nelson said. "I think one of the most important things we need is transparency."
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has had several shootings by police officers in recent years that have sparked angry protests, including the 2016 killing of a black driver, Philando Castile, by an officer in the Twin Cities suburb of Falcon Heights. Castile's girlfriend streamed the immediate aftermath of the shooting on Facebook.
On Sept. 7, police fatally shot 30-year-old Brian Quinones in the suburb of Richfield after they say he failed to stop for a red light in Edina and wouldn't pull over. The city of Edina says Quinones "confronted officers with a knife" before he was shot. Quinones livestreamed a video of himself as he was driving, being pursued by police. The shooting can be heard, but not seen, on his video.
Afterward, his brother told Minnesota Public Radio News that Quinones had been having suicidal thoughts.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, calling it “a dirty spectacle” that cherry picks weapons of mass destruction from all other weapons that should also be banned.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor, Russia opposed and China abstaining.
The resolution would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that included the U.S. and Russia, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the resolution as “absolutely absurd and politicized,” and said it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.
Russia and China proposed an amendment to the U.S.-Japan draft that would call on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”
The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes required for adoption.
The U.S. opposed the amendment, and after the vote Nebenzia addressed the U.S. ambassador saying: “We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space, not just WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). But you don’t want that. And let me ask you that very same question. Why?”
He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”
Nebenzia accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.
Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”
She called Wednesday’s vote “a real missed opportunity to rebuild much-needed trust in existing arms control obligations.”
Thomas-Greenfield’s announcement of the resolution on March 18 followed White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.
Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the U.S.
Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”
It could destroy “thousands of satellites operated by countries and companies around the world — and wipe out the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend on,” she said.
The defeated draft resolution said “the prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security.” It would have urged all countries carrying out activities in exploring and using outer space to comply with international law and the U.N. Charter.
The draft would have affirmed that countries that ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must comply with their obligations not to put in orbit around the Earth “any objects” with weapons of mass destruction, or install them “on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space.”
The treaty, ratified by some 114 countries, including the U.S. and Russia, prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit or the stationing of “weapons in outer space in any other manner.”
The draft resolution emphasized “the necessity of further measures, including political commitments and legally binding instruments, with appropriate and effective provisions for verification, to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects.”
It reiterated that the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva, has the primary responsibility to negotiate agreements on preventing an arms race in outer space.
The 65-nation body has achieved few results and has largely devolved into a venue for countries to voice criticism of others’ weapons programs or defend their own. The draft resolution would have urged the conference “to adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive program of work.”
At the March council meeting where the U.S.-Japan initiative was launched, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades.”
He said the movie “Oppenheimer” about Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the U.S. project during World War II that developed the atomic bomb, “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”
“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” the U.N. chief said.
United States Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses members of the U.N. Security Council before voting during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)
