Minneapolis didn’t discipline police officer who called Black Lives Matter ‘terrorist organisation’

Officer has record of misconduct allegations

The Minneapolis Police Department continues to employ an officer who called Black Lives Matter a terrorist group and which he told a community member he intended to “wipe off the face of the Earth,” just months after the MPD brutally murdered George Floyd.

In the fall of 2020, Jacqueline Bilek called the MPD to inquire about a man who was putting anti-Black Lives Matter fliers under windshields in her area, concerned that he might be dangerous because she’d heard he was suffering from mental health problems.

When she called the police to learn more, she said she spoke with a sergeant named Scot Kaiser, who made a number of aggressive remarks about the activist movement and refused to transfer the caller to a superior, leaving her “appalled”.

“And then with all due arrogance, he goes, ‘You know what? I’ve got the feeling you are going to file a complaint, and so let me spell my last name so you get it correctly and give you my badge number, so nothing’s wrong,’” Ms Bilek recalls the officer saying, she told Minnesota Reformer.

“He’s an arrogant son of a b**** — pardon my language. I’m 72 and usually very low-key,” Ms Bilek added. “He knew he wasn’t going to be held accountable, and he thought it was funny. It was just a game.”

Ms Bilek filed a complaint against the officer, but public records do not indicate Mr Kaiser has faced any disciplinary actions. The complaint was taken to the then deputy chief of internal affairs, Amelia Huffman, who is now the interim Minneapolis police chief.

The Independent has contacted the MPD for comment.

Since 2012, according to the Reformer, the officer has been the subject of 13 misconduct complaints, including two for which he was disciplined. Sgt Kaiser was suspended for 40 hours in July for calling a man a “stupid piece of s***” and ignoring his claims he couldn’t breathe during a scuffle that broke out in a September 2021 disturbance call. He was also the subject of a lawsuit against the city, settled for $30,000, accusing him of inappropriately touching a Muslim woman and making offensive remarks about her religion.

Sgt Kaiser’s alleged sentiments weren’t unique in the department, which has a long history of using disproportionate force against people of colour.

In a leaked email, the then-president of the Minneapolis Federation of Police called the protests that followed the murder of Floyd a “terrorist movement.”

In body camera footage, Minneapolis police were also heard gleefully talking about “hunting” protesters during the demonstrations.