Former Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor is now being sued by a man who claims Noor pulled a gun on him during a routine traffic stop just months before the murder of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
The lawsuit, which was obtained by KSTP, was filed by Minneapolis resident Brian Oman, and lists Noor, Officer Justin Schmidt, and the City of Minneapolis as defendants.
Dash-cam video of the May 2017 incident was first released in February and does, in fact, show Noor pointing a gun at Oman’s head while he approaches the vehicle. The prosecution in Noor’s murder trial asked to use the video to show that he had a history of “unnecessarily escalating force,” according to KARE 11.
Noor’s attorneys claimed at the time that the prosecution’s description was “grossly misleading” and that Noor was justified in pulling his gun.
In any event, Noor, who was found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the shooting of Damond, is now being sued by Oman in response to the incident. The lawsuit claims that Noor and his partner violated Oman’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
It goes on to state that the officers “assaulted, maliciously prosecuted and negligently caused injury” to Oman.
Oman was pulled over after he cleared an intersection on a red light. The lawsuit argues that state law “does not prohibit drivers who enter an intersection on a green light from clearing the intersection if the light turns red while the driver remains in the intersection.”
In body-cam footage from Officer Schmidt, Oman can be heard explaining that he was “in this intersection before it turned red,” though Schmidt responded by saying “it doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. What am I supposed to stop and back up once it turns red? I know what the law is, man. I cleared the intersection like I was supposed to,” Oman replied.
“Would you shut up and let me talk?” Schmidt says later in the video after Oman continued to defend himself.
In the lawsuit, Oman’s attorneys point to Noor’s psych evaluation as proof that he had symptoms “that may be incompatible with public safety requirements” and are “very uncommon among police officer candidates.”
Oman received two citations for the 2017 incident, but they were ultimately tossed out. He’s now seeking damages of at least $50,000.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Police Surveillance Video” by KARE 11.
