The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week...

...is Minneapolis, Minnesota Police Lieutenant Bradley Sporny, although Lieutenant Susan Piontek and Captain Sally Weddel of the same department deserve a lot of the credit for Sporny's winning this prestigious award.

On Saturday, October 20, 2007, a Minnesota resident and handgun carry permit holder (I have his name, but I am not releasing it because I believe that he is the victim here, so let's call him John Doe for clarity in this article) was riding his motorcycle on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, and was stopped at the traffic light at Hennepin and Washington. The permit holder had his weapon in a hip holster with a jacket covering it, which is perfectly legal. In fact, it would have been legal to carry it openly, but John maintains that his holster was covered, and at most a bulge through the jacket or the very tip of the holster would have been visible. The following account of what happened next relies heavily on John's recollection of events, but he wrote down the details of the incident later that very day, and I have no reason to doubt either it or the man's character.

While waiting for the light to change, John noticed a grey Chevy Malibu-type sedan with no markings pull up next to him, in the oncoming traffic lane. The driver of the car, who was wearing ordinary clothes, then got out and pointed a handgun at John, and stated something to the effect of, "Are you a cop or in law enforcement?" John answered that he was not, and then the driver of the car ordered him to pull over to the side of the road, and to not take his hands off of the handlebars. The driver of the car then used a walkie-talkie type of radio to call for help, saying something like "I have a motorcyclist at gunpoint carrying a gun". It seems that the driver was some sort of law enforcement officer, although John claims that he never identified himself as such, and with plain clothes and an unmarked car, the driver could have easily been some sort of carjacker or other criminal attempting to impersonate a law officer, or even some random nut who thinks he's some sort of cop.

Seconds later, four squad cars and a police van show up, and John is disarmed and placed into the back of a squad car. To their credit, the uniformed officers are very polite and courteous, and quickly establish that John has done nothing to warrant being stopped at gunpoint, as carrying a handgun, whether openly or concealed, as John was apparently doing, is entirely legal with a permit in Minnesota. As a matter of fact, John recalls that when he "then asked if the cop that pulled me over was familiar with the law", the officer stated "'He will be when we are done here'." After a short time, John was given his weapon back and told that he was free to go, although quite a crowd had gathered by then, and he felt very embarrassed at being the center of such a production.

Several days later, after obtaining the radio traffic data on the call, John filed a formal complaint against the off-duty officer that stopped him at gunpoint, in plainclothes, in an unmarked vehicle, apparently without identifying himself as an officer in any way. That officer turned out to be Lt. Sporny, who works in the Research and Development Unit (My translation: not a street cop by any means, or more accurately, not apparently a person who has any idea of the laws in Minnesota, or how one goes about enforcing them).

John filed his complaint on October 25. On November 8, having heard nothing from the department since the filing, contrary to MPD policy which mandates that a complainant be contacted by Internal Affairs within five business days, he contacted Lt. Susan Piontek of Internal Affairs, on whose desk the complaint had apparently landed. He was told by Piontek that because IA was swamped with work and that because "this isn't a serious charge against him (Sporny)", that she was going to let Sporny's direct supervisor, Captain Sally Weddel, investigate the complaint.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on November 28, John received a call from Captain Weddel, informing him that there would be no action taken against Lt. Sporny for his actions on October 20. When John asked for a copy of the paperwork that she had amassed in the incident, she responded that if a complaint wasn't substantiated against an officer, then it wasn't part of the public record, and as such wasn't able to be released. When John pointed out that perhaps as the complainant in the case he had a right to see how his allegations were investigated and her conclusions reached, he was told that Weddel would "check and get back to him". He is understandably not holding his breath.

In researching this incident, I had the opportunity to talk to Captain Weddel by phone. She maintained to me that any MPD officer has the right to stop anyone in public with a holstered handgun, in order to ascertain if that person has a valid carry permit. I asked her if it was department policy that this check be done at gunpoint, especially if performed on people just minding their own business, by an off-duty officer in street clothes who seemingly didn't bother to identify himself. She didn't have an answer. I also reminded her of Robbinsdale, Minnesota Police Officer Landen Beard, an off-duty undercover officer who managed to get himself shot under very similar circumstances, albeit in a road-rage incident that Beard himself allegedly precipitated, and inquired if the good captain could possibly see the danger that Officer Sporny put himself, John, and the rest of the public in by completely overreacting to an innocent situation. She again didn't have an answer.

John has consulted an attorney, who advised him that there is probably no sense in pursuing this further legally. Therefore, it falls to others to call attention to and publicize the following apparent things about the Minneapolis Police Department, which just yesterday has cost the city another 4.5 million dollars, as that is the amount the City Council has voted to give Officer Duy Ngo for injuries suffered when another MPD officer machine-gunned him:

- The MPD apparently has desk-jockey officers who are not knowledgeable about the laws regarding the carrying of handguns in Minnesota, and who seemingly carry out felony traffic stops for no good reason while off duty and in plainclothes, without backup, while not bothering to tell the citizens who they are. These incredibly dangerous actions are then deemed minor and relegated to "don't bother us about this" status.

- The MPD apparently does not follow its own stated policy of contacting complaint filers within five business days.

- The MPD's Internal Affairs Department is apparently so overworked and busy that it is farming out "not serious" serious allegations to the officer's own direct supervisor, a clear conflict of interest.

- The MPD, by not disciplining the actions of officers such as Bradley Sporny, and having learned nothing from the Duy Ngo case, is setting itself up to pay out even more millions of dollars in settlements when similar unwise actions in the future result in tragedy, either for the officer or for the innocent citizen.

If there are any interested residents of Minneapolis who wish to inquire if their normal, legal behaviors are going to get them proned out at gunpoint as well, they are free to contact Lt. Piontek at 612-673-2057 or Captain Weddel at 612-673-3551 and ask them for themselves.

To his credit, John wishes to communicate that the uniformed MPD officers who responded to Sporny's cry of wolf were extremely competent, professional and knowledgeable about the laws they are charged with enforcing. He (and I) wish to name them publicly to give them some deserved recognition. They are:

Jason Reimer
Chad Martin
Robert Greer
Gary Duren

Thank you, officers, from everyone in the Twin Cities carry community, and keep up the good work. Please know that it's very much appreciated. After all, it's only fair to note and reward good cops for doing solid police work, especially when their actions are compared to the "heroics" of dolts like Sporny.