A former St. Paul police officer who was fired for shooting and wounding an unarmed Black man last November will not face criminal charges, according to a memo released Friday by Attorney General Keith Ellison's office.
Anthony Dean, a six-year veteran of the force, was part of a team of officers looking to arrest Joseph Javonte Washington, 31, in St. Paul's North End in November. When Washington suddenly jumped out of a dumpster and rushed at the officers, Dean shot him four times, wounding him in the abdomen and upper legs.
St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell quickly released body camera footage of the incident and subsequently fired Dean, saying the footage showed Dean's failure to follow the department's use-of-force standards.
"When I ask myself if the officer's actions on Saturday night were reasonable and necessary, the only answer I can come up with is 'no,' " Axtell said at a news conference four days after the shooting. "As police officers, we have a duty to use force only when required."
But the investigation by the Attorney General's Office found that Dean had enough facts at the time to reasonably conclude Washington was capable of inflicting great bodily harm or death upon officers or others in the area, and that Dean took action to protect himself and others.
"Officer Dean stated that he could not see Washington's hands while in the dumpster, which caused him concern given report of a knife and Washington's assertion he had a gun," according to the Attorney General's report.
Dean declined to comment Saturday. But his attorney, Robert Paule, said Dean was "relieved that justice was served in this matter" and called Axtell's decision to fire his client "a knee-jerk reaction designed to prevent protests in St. Paul rather than a logical, thoughtful decision."
Leading up to the incident on Nov. 28, Washington's ex-girlfriend told officers that he had sexually assaulted, kidnapped and held her at knife point before forcing her to drive from Lakeville to St. Paul and crash her car. She said that Washington was high on drugs.
Later that night, officers attempted to coax a naked Washington out of a dumpster he was hiding in behind a funeral home in the North End. Body camera footage shows him suddenly jumping out of the dumpster and rushing at the officers, getting within 3 feet of Sgt. Kathleen Brown, who was leading the negotiations with him. That's when Dean, who was assigned to cover Brown, shot Washington.
Dean told investigators that Washington had displayed several characteristics that "reasonably implied his use of narcotics and unpredictability." Those characteristics included being naked in 40-degree temperatures for more than an hour, breaking into a nearby home to steal orange juice, and not being affected by pepper balls that officers shot at the dumpster where he was hiding.
Washington yelled at officers that he had a gun with him in the dumpster, Dean told the Attorney General's Office. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said investigators never found any weapons at the site of the shooting or inside the dumpster.
Dean told investigators he couldn't see Washington's hands as he left the dumpster, so he couldn't verify that he was unarmed. Though the officers gave Washington a clear path to flee, he chose instead to run directly at them — another highly unusual sign that pointed to his unpredictability and potential for violence, Dean said.
Investigators hired use-of-force expert Jeffrey Noble to review the evidence independently and determine whether Dean's conduct met generally accepted police practices. Noble determined that Dean's actions were "objectively reasonable and consistent with generally accepted police practices."
"Based on these objective facts, the State could not disprove that it was reasonable to believe death or great bodily harm could occur without using deadly force," the Attorney General's memo concluded.
In a statement Saturday, Axtell called the incident "incredibly difficult" for the St. Paul Police Department. Dean, he said, "is a great person who served honorably and did a lot of outstanding work.
"Unfortunately, he made a terrible mistake — his actions didn't align with the policies or standards of the St. Paul Police Department. I have an obligation to our city and agency to hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards, even and especially when it's difficult, as it was in this case," Axtell said.
Mark Ross, president of the St. Paul Police Federation, said in a statement that the attorney general's decision not to charge Dean "confirms what we believed all along. Officer Dean was not afforded his due process, but instead became a victim of politics."
Maya Miller • 612-673-7086
