Officer Dan May returns award he deserved

The City of Minneapolis once again showed how hopelessly liberal it is with it’s meddling in the Medal of Valor award Dan May received from the Awards Committee. After pressure from Chief Bill McManus, the Star Tribune, the corrupt Minneapolis City Council, and Black pressure groups, Dan May showed what a classy guy he is and returned the award.

The City of Minneapolis handled the 1990 incident in which Dan May shot gang member Tycel Nelson in self defense very poorly from the start. Even though Officer May was cleared of any wrongdoing, the corrupt city council awarded Earline Skinner, the mother of Tycel Nelson $250,000 of taxpayer money to keep activists like Spike Moss quiet. Not only was this a waste of taxpayer money, it was perceived to be an admission of guilt. Known gang members should be automatically disqualified from any potential lawsuit award.

The Black leaders in Minneapolis seem to be more interested in tying the hands of law enforcement than in eradicating the gang problem. In this increasingly dangerous city where it is not uncommon to be killed by stray gunfire, it’s no wonder that police officers respond to calls such as gang shootings very seriously, and they have every right to defend themselves.

The Black activists claim that because Tycel Nelson was shot in the back, Officer May must have been at fault. However, a study showed how this is easily explained (read below):

*********************************************************************************

"The Tycel Nelson case was the one that pushed me to understand what the parameters of all this is about."

For psychologist Bill Lewinski it was the starting point for science. At the Force Science Research Center at Mankato State, Professor Lewinski has brought the street to the lab... measuring deadly force... in fractions of a second.

"And then one two, six/100th's of a second they get a discharge."

According to Professor Lewinski's research: suspects move and shoot three times faster than an average officer can possibly react. If an officer waits until a weapon is pointed right at them, it's too late.

"If they're close enough they're dead, or wounded."

It's a lesson officers learn quickly in a shooting simulator, like this one operated by the Hennepin County Sheriff's office.

"You need to make a decision in a split second."

For a trained officer, it's a sobering experience.

"What did you do sir, settle down."

"Drop the gun sir, drop the gun sir?"

In my case, a disaster.

"What does he have in his hand, a billfold, oh, my gosh."

I kill one man trying to show me his wallet. Pumped 20 rounds into another suspect.

"A few too many shots maybe."

…And fail to stop a man from killing his wife.

Yet even this simulator, with hundreds of scenarios, cannot explain what happened that night fourteen years ago.

But Dr. Lewinski believes he finally can.

"I've looked at over nine hundred officer-involved shootings and the vast majority the subject is shot somewhere in the side or the back."

Watch this carefully. Lewinski's experiments have shown a suspect can fire, turn his back, and begin running, in just 18/100th's of a second.

"The fastest was a forty-one-year-old women. She simply rotated her hips."

It takes an average officer 33/100ths of a second to respond, and that's with their finger on the trigger. The difference, is more than enough time for the bullet to hit the back.

"Very seldom is it the Dodge City showdown, when you get two people face to face shooting each other. Very often subjects are turning, moving, and running away from each other."

An explanation in fractions of a second, that's taken years to live down.

"The truth never got out."

In all his years as a cop, that night was the only time Dan May has ever fired his weapon in the line of duty. And yet, for so many people on the north side, he'll always be the cop who shot the kid in the back.

"They're still trying to get their pound of flesh for Tycel Nelson."
*********************************************************************************

Its too bad Mayor Rybak had to fire an effective Police Chief in Robert Olson and go out of his way to find the most liberal candidate available with Dayton, Ohio Chief Bill McManus. Crime in Minneapolis is back to the “Murderapolis” days because of this.