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June 19, 2012

Minneapolis police officer punches man unconscious on bar patio in Andover


A father of four from Ramsey, Minn. is not spending this Father's Day as anyone would like. Brian Vander Lee is fighting for his life at Mercy Hospital.



"Everyone is taking it hard -- it's tough," said Mike Archambault, Vander Lee's longtime friend.

Archambault says Vander Lee was on the patio at Tanners in Andover around 7 p.m. Saturday night. Vander Lee was talking loud on his cell phone when a stranger at another table asked him to be quiet. Minutes later, Archambault spoke to Vander Lee as he was pulling into the parking lot, but the cell phone went dead.

"He did a Superman punch," Archambault said. "Brian went back, feet up in the air, and the guy landed on top of him and his head bounced off the concrete."

Archambault saw the man run off the patio as Vander Lee laid there unconscious. Vander Lee was rushed to the nearest hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for bleeding on his brain.

With at least ten witnesses on the patio including Vander Lee's wife, investigators quickly learned the suspect was possibly a Minneapolis police officer. They alerted the Minneapolis Police Department and went to the suspect's house, but did not find him.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Commander Paul Sommer says Sgt. David Clifford turned himself in to the Anoka County Jail with his lawyer by his side. Clifford made a statement to police and was booked into the jail awaiting charges for first and third-degree assault.

Sgt. Bill Palmer with the Minneapolis Police Department confirms Sgt. Clifford has been with the department since 1993 and is currently the executive officer of the SWAT team.

"I think he realized now, I don't think he realized how serious it was last night," Archambault said. "And now that word got out -- that Brian is in the condition he's in -- that he better do what's right."

Brian Vander Lee was on life support Sunday after two brain surgeries. Doctors are hopeful, saying his vital signs look good.

12 comments:

  1. If this SWAT idiot isn't fired & charged with assault after this, you may know that your government no longer has any accountbility.
    These are the idiots that get excited by kicking in your doors at night.

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  2. typical dirty nazi pig should be hung by his pig ballz

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  3. When the revolution comes, it will be open season on ALL cops, good or bad. So now is the time for the good cops to reign in their bad co-workers, because Americans are sick of this police state and won't take it for too much longer.

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  4. Fire him and charge him with grievous bodily harm. End of story.

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  5. This is attempted capitol murder. This man should be facing at least that

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  6. Another tough cop! Yeah...let's see what a real man he is. Stick him in the Grey Bar Hotel in the general population.

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  7. "Do what's right??????"
    You damn fool, you don't just haul off and punch somebody in the head! That's not "right!"
    This guy's got SWAT for brains and needs to be in jail.

    sj

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  8. At least now we know where the mentality of SWAT teams come from

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  9. This cop will be doing time in prison where he belongs. What a scumbag.

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  10. what a nice officer! hog tie him and feed him to the ants.

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  11. Another example of cops gone wild. He's probably busily transferring all of his property out of his name.

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  12. First of all, Vander should have respected other people's rights to a quiet dinner in peace and gone onto the grounds or some corner to shout into his phone. This altercation would not have happened. That being said, violence is never an answer to such people. They can always turn around and sue you. It's like if Zimmerman hadn't followed Trayvon, Trayvon would still be alive. Zim brought on his own troubles. This time the victim seems to have brought it on himself. Foolish. ALWAYS respect others' rights and don't act like an asshole.

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