The family of Fong Lee, a Minneapolis Hmong teenager who was killed in 2006, is holding a press conference and rally this weekend to announce they’re taking the fight for justice to theSupreme Court of the United States.
They say that Lee, who was 19 years old when he was shot by a Minneapolis Police Department officer, was wrongfully killed when he was riding his bike with some friends. Lee was shot eight times — five after he was already down on the ground. The MPD claims Fong was selling drugs near an elementary school and pulled a gun on the cops.
The officer, Jason Andersen, a rookie at the time, was later accused of unnecessary force in another case, and has been fired twice from the MPD. An all-white jury found that Andersen didn’t use excessive force, and the family appeal was denied. So now Lee’s family is taking their wrongful death case to the Supreme Court.
There are a lot of hinky elements to this story. The family claims the police planted the gun, which was in the possession of police from an earlier robbery. There are clips of surveillance video at the school, which shows Andersen in pursuit of Fong, and Fong doesn’t appear to have a gun. The shooting happened out of the camera’s range. There are no fingerprints on the gun.
The large Twin Cities Hmong community is understandably upset and rallying behind the Lee family, and even the media are questioning the official version of the killing. This will be a SCOTUS case to follow.
Thanks to Slanty at Slant Eye for the Round Eye, who lives in Minneapolis and wants to bring the case some national attention.
If you’re in the Minneapolis area, you should try to make the announcement and rally on Saturday. It’s being held at 2 pm at the elementary school where Fong Lee was killed: Cityview Elementary School, 3350 North 4th Street, Minneapolis.
Here’s the full text of the press release announcing the rally:
