Brooklyn Center City Councilor Claims She Voted to Fire City Manager ‘Out of Fear of Potential Reprisals From Protestors if She Did Not’

This evening, Brooklyn Center City Manager Curt Boganey was fired hours during an emergency meeting by the city council after he publicly disagreed with Mayor Mike Elliott’s assertion that the police officer who fatally shot a resisting suspect in the Minneapolis suburb should herself be immediately fired in response to the incident.

According to the Star Tribune, during a virtual workshop after the meeting, Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson said she voted to fire Boganey out of fear of potential reprisals from protestors if she did not.

“He was doing a great job. I respect him dearly. I didn’t want repercussions at a personal level,” Lawrence-Anderson lamented.

Elliott has also been given command authority over the city’s police department based on a separate vote that was taken at the meeting.

In a tweet, Elliott said, “Effective immediately our city manager has been relieved of his duties, and the deputy city manager will be assuming his duties moving forward. I will continue to work my hardest to ensure good leadership at all levels of our city government.”

Effective immediately our city manager has been relieved of his duties, and the deputy city manager will be assuming his duties moving forward. I will continue to work my hardest to ensure good leadership at all levels of our city government.

— Mayor Mike Elliott (@mayor_elliott) April 12, 2021

According to her LinkedIn profile, Lawrence-Anderson was first elected to the council in 2012. She was re-elected last year, despite facing challenges from two Liberian-Americans.

Brooklyn Center is in the 5th Congressional District, which is represented by U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who is Somali-American.

It is unclear, but generally assumed that most elected politicians in that district are Democrat, although there doesn’t appear to be a political designation given to those running for council.

In 2018, Lawrence-Anderson shared an Occupy Democrats meme on Facebook that used selective, slanted quotes given by “Republicans on rape.” She commented, “Hideous.”

https://www.facebook.com/kris.lawrenceanderson/posts/10211836941064909

From Fox News:

Both Elliott and Boganey addressed potential disciplinary action toward the officer during a press conference earlier in the day. At the time, Elliott called for the officer to be fired.

“Let me be very clear – my position is that we cannot afford to make mistakes that lead to the loss of life of other people in our profession,” Elliott said. “I do fully support releasing the officer of her duties.”

Before leaving the podium, Elliott noted that Boganey, as city manager, had the authority to determine whether the officer would be fired. Boganey noted that he would not take immediate action to remove the officer.

“All employees working for the city of Brooklyn Center are entitled to due process with respect to discipline,” Boganey said. “This employee will receive due process and that’s really all that I can say today.”

When pressed on whether he personally felt the officer should be fired, Boganey again called for due process.

“If I were to answer that question, I’d be contradicting what I said a moment ago — which is to say that all employees are entitled to due process and after that due process, discipline will be determined,” Boganey said. “If I were to say anything else, I would actually be contradicting the idea of due process.”