Chris Lollie Arrest: Police Defend Tasing Of Black Man Waiting To Pick Up His Kids From Pre-School


Chris Lollie, the 28-year-old dad of two who was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota, while sitting and waiting for his kids to get out of pre-school, is now seeing his version of events leading up to the arrest — in which police shot the unarmed Lollie with a Taser — questioned by St. Paul police, who on Friday issued a statement claiming that the man “actively resisted lawful orders,” requiring them to use force to detain him.

But Lollie, who is employed in a high-end, downtown restaurant and also performs hip-hop music, says that the police version of events is simply “false.”

Lollie’s case gained national attention earlier this week when he posted a cell phone video he recorded during his encounter with two St. Paul police officers, who approached him as sat on a chair in a skyway waiting for his kids, shortly before 10 am on the morning of January 31.

The Inquisitr story on Lollie’s arrest, which includes the cell phone video, can be accessed at this link. The video begins when Lollie is approached by a female officer who demands to know his name. Lollie says he doesn’t want to give his name because he has not done anything wrong.

There is no law in Minnesota requiring an individual who is not under arrest to give a name or personal information to the police simply because they ask for it. There are 24 U.S. states in which so-called “Stop and Identify” laws are in effect.

In the video, Lollie is heard to tell the female police officer, “[T]he problem is I’m black.”

When the second, male officer approaches, Lollie says, “What’s up, brother?”

The officer snaps back, “I’m not your brother.” Both officers were white.

The police were called to the scene by a security guard who said that Lollie had refused to leave a private area. But Lollie says that he saw no posted notice that the area was private.

The police statement said that, “as is often the case, the video does not show the totality of the circumstances. The guards reported that the man had on repeated occasions refused to leave a private ’employees only’ area in the First National Bank Building.”

But when reporters for the Minneapolis Star Tribune visited the skyway, they backed up Lollie’s assertion that the area where Lollie sat was not designated as “private” or “employees only.”

Lollie now says he intends to file a complaint against the St. Paul police.

“It hurts, it really does,” Lollie said. “Because no matter what — I could be the nicest guy in the world, talk with respect, I can be working, taking care of my kids, doing everything a model citizen is supposed to do — and still I get that type of treatment.”

All charges against Lollie were dropped.

The mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman, has called for a full review of the January arrest of Chris Lollie, saying that it “raises a great deal of concern, especially given this summer’s shooting death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.”

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