Community members call for change after Indigenous man was “slammed on the concrete

By Jason Rantala

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — Thursday marks two weeks of protests outside Franklin Library in Minneapolis Phillips’ neighborhood.

A video circulating on social media shows who community members have identified as an Indigenous man named Erik, handcuffed to a fence and overcome due to mace.

“I guess he was slammed on the concrete and they smacked his head a couple times,” said Mo Bilal, a native community member. “They were roughing him up.”

WCCO obtained library surveillance video from late last month, which shows two members of Black Knight Protection Agency taking Erik to the ground.

“I found a lot of things that were false from the public, versus what actually took place,” David Junior, owner of Black Knight Protection Agency, said.

The Crystal-based company employs close to 100 agents at about 30 properties in the Twin Cities, the owner said.

Junior denied that his employees used excessive force, and said the library surveillance proves his point

“He didn’t hit his head during that time of takedown. It’s clear as day on camera,” Junior said.

Junior said Erik violated a trespassing order more than once that day and was caught doing drugs in the library. He said his guards were trying to initiate a citizen’s arrest and that Erik tried to swing at them.

Crowd members started throwing objects at the guards, Junior said, before mace was deployed by a guard someone in the crowd throwing things. An individual in the crowd maced them back, hitting Erik, Junior said.

Video shows Minneapolis police and EMS arrived shortly after.

In a statement to WCCO, Hennepin County Comissioner Angela Conley writes, “Escalation like this could have been avoided with the right tools and resources. Our residents deserve better and I trust our in-house security, requested by residents, are the right team to serve this location.”

Protestors at the library Thursday continue to call for Black Knight to be removed from their post at the library.

“Beating people up is not part of the process. You’ve got to deescalate,” Bilal said.

A Hennepin County spokesperson said the man in the video, Erik, has been banned from the library for a year by Minneapolis police.

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