Well, the other (soft) shoe has dropped in the Coon Rapids, Minnesota road-rage case that we've been watching here, in which a handgun permit holder, Martin Treptow, shot a man who was allegedly threatening him, his pregnant wife, and his two young children with a handgun of his own. The man who was shot later turned out to be an off-duty, undercover Robbinsdale, Minnesota police officer, although that fact doesn't seem to have anything to do with how the incident unfolded, and shouldn't have anything to do with how the case is investigated and adjudicated.
Landen Beard was indicted today on one count of Terroristic Threats, a felony in Minnesota. If convicted, he faces immediate and mandatory loss of his peace officer's license, and will no longer be able to be a police officer in Minnesota (or anywhere else, if I am correct). If you want to see the indictment yourself, it's here. The person who posted the paperwork politely (and correctly, in my view) removed Beard's personal address information from the scan, a courtesy that Fox9 News never bothered to give Martin Treptow. More on that in a bit.
Beard was ordered to not have contact with either of the Treptows, but curiously was not ordered to surrender all of his firearms like Treptow was made to, and which appears to be standard procedure in violent felony indictments. I'm sure that the residents of Coon Rapids (where Beard lives) will be mighty pleased to know that there is a person in their midst charged with a violent felony who is somehow able to still keep his firearms. The citizens of Robbinsdale also should be quite happy to know that they're apparently paying for Beard's high-powered (expensive) defense lawyers. Again, more in a short while.
Incidentally, according to an acquaintance of mine who was in the courtroom for the hearing, Beard was accompanied by several other police officers, who made a big show of shaking his hand, clapping his back, and doing various other hail-fellow-well-met pleasantries in an apparent show of public support. This is par for the course for some officers, who simply can not be convinced that their fellow officers are capable of any wrongdoing. Ever. Must have been just another mistake, eh, boys, just like that cop in Illinois whose wives keep turning up dead or missing, and who funneled a quarter of a million dollars to his cop son right after the last one disappeared, and who had had 18 domestic violence calls to his house while he was married to his dead under mysterious circumstances third wife, without him ever being arrested a single time, that kind of mistake, right? The cops who performed that little bit of theater in court today should be ashamed of themselves.
After the hearing came a press conference by Beard's attorneys, of the firm of Dorsey & Whitney, which, I have been told, does not come cheaply. I'm assuming that the Robbinsdale Police Department is still sticking by its initial story that Beard was on duty at the time, although out of his jurisdiction and in his own hometown, strangely enough. If that tale is proven to be the sham that it obviously is, I hope that Mr. Beard has a very large penny jar stashed somewhere, as the taxpayers of Robbinsdale will no doubt insist that he pay his own freight at that point.
During the presser by Beard's attorneys, two things stood out. First, the attorneys were asked about an uninvolved eyewitness to the incident who told the investigating officers that Officer Beard shouted "I'm going to blow your fucking head off, I don't care if I have to go to jail" at the Treptows. In response, the lawyers slickly reminded everyone how unreliable eyewitnesses can be. You know, that's why cops and prosecutors use them all the time.
Second, an alert reporter asked the lawyers if Beard had ever identified himself as an officer to the Treptows during the incident, and if so, when exactly did he do it. Curiously, that's right about when the press conference ended. I guess they'll get back to us on that.
I know that everyone who visits here regularly is waiting with bated breath to see how Fox9 News covered this side of the story, as compared to the hatchet piece that they presented last night on Martin Treptow, the handgun permit holder who shot Officer Beard as he was (allegedly) threatening Treptow and his family.
Well, the story made their website, albeit not in the largest window at the top of the webpage that's reserved for the top story of the day, as they gladly did with their coverage of Treptow. No video story, no picture of Beard, and most definitely no slow-pan or freeze-frame of Beard's address, all of which Mr Treptow was subjected to by Fox9. Oh, and the disclosure statement is gone again, so let's take care of it for them, shall we? According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press (which, by the way, has had by far the best and most balanced coverage of this case, done by Dave Orrick and Nancy Yang), Officer Landen Beard is married to Dawn Stevens, a reporter for KMSP-TV (Fox9). How does it feel to have your names dragged all over the Web? I wonder if your marriage license or property records show your home address, so we can do to you exactly what was done to the Treptows?
Nah, don't worry. I wouldn't stoop to doing that, as it would make me as bad a person as you two apparently are.
I'm sure there will be many more developments in the coming days. Rest assured that we will do our best to stay on top of them.
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One rumor is that the reason that Beard was in his home town in the middle of the afternoon while supposedly working undercover is that he had a "nooner" with his girlfriend and an appointment later that afternoon. When the Treptows were driving too slow, he got mad about having to wait to get his wick dipped and blew up.
Fine police work, there, Landen. Could happen to anybody.
>>I wonder if your marriage license or property records show your home address, so we can do to you exactly what was done to the Treptows?<<
Actually, public records clerks usually do a pretty good job of concealing that kind of info about an LEO, and his family, from public view. It's even more likely here, given that Beard was operating undercover.
Landen Michael Beard is a suspect charged with a felony crime. His name and address are public record. And there's a lot more to be fuond by anyone that looks.
Since Fox9 was so profligate in putting out Mr. Treptow's address, and somehow failed to cover the indictment against Mr. Beard at all (because he's married to the lovely Dawn Stevens, a reporter for Fox9?), I figured I'd make up the deficit.
Landen Michael Beard, born April 4, 1980, resides at 833 105th Ave NW in Coon Rapids, a modest home built in 1985 and currently valued at $145,800.* Unfortunately, he's only owned it since June 28, 2005, so it's doubtful that he has that much equity in the property.
He's a hometown boy: He attended Champlin Park High School before heading to Hamline University in 1999. At 6'3", it's perhaps little surprise that he was a basketball player when he went to Hamline University around 1999-2000. By 2001 he was already a police cadet.
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* When your rights are violated by a police officer, a good thing to ask, I've heard, is "Tell me, officer: do you own your own home?" Because after the civil suit, you may own it.
Obviously only anti-police activists post here. Fair and Balanced I see. You seem to have made your decision as to what happened without being there or knowing all the facts. I am betting that Officer Beard will come out of this clean on the other side and you will be eating your hats.
Maybe, anonymous, you could go out and recruit some other badgelickers to post here in the interest of balance.
While you may have a point that many people here are anti-police, the facts of this case are stacked very well against Beard, as eyewitness accounts of the incident (as well as the accounts of Treptow's family) all back Treptow as being harassed by Beard. The facts are as such, as stated by all accounts save Beard's: Beard gets out of his car, tells Treptow to roll down his window. Beard threatens Treptow and his pregnant wife with a gun, saying things like "I'm going to kill you, I'm not afraid of jail". Treptow then acted in defense of self and family and shot Beard. Open and shut case. There's no need to be balanced when the facts all point to the conclusion that the cop was wrong.
Now, am I an anti-police activist? No. Hell no. I'm an anti-lawbreaking activist. Beard made terroristic threats and pointed a loaded weapon at an innocent. Cop or not, that's a crime. Police officers need to be held to the highest standard of conduct in these matters, or else how can the public trust its protectors?
That's the story from a previously fired security guard, still currently out of work, with a hot temper. A cop with a badge doesn't make the comment "i'm not affraid of going to jail." If he even get's out of the car it is to tell the jerk to take off because he is on duty. It't odd that officer Beard was shot while seated in his vehicle, as the balistics will reveal, and that Officer Beard's vehicle rolled away, still in gear and crashed into a building, still in gear, after he escaped from the passenger side of his own vehicle, away from the gunfire. Because we know when someone steps out of thier vehicle to get into a verbal argument with another driver on the driver side, that they leave thier vehicle in drive. You are so anti-police that you fail to see the other side of the story, or even bring it up.
There is no way that a guy gets shot while seated in his car when he is supposed to be outisde his vehicle on the drivers side in an arguement.
Lets talk about factual evidence instead of the "statement" of a hot head flashlight cop who decides its a good idea to fire a weapon in front of his wife's face.
It was a true testament to officer Beard's character that he did not exit his vehicle on the passenger side and fire back into the attacker's vehicle and risk injuring the woman or child.
Another fact that you fail to mention is that prior to the shooting, this security guard was chasing officer Beard flashing his high beams, because officer Beard cut him off. Officer Beard tried several times to loose the individual by making turns.
This is a sad web site, I am interested for your reply to this one.
Anyone happen to know the court file number for Landen Beard's case. I'd like to watch the case via the court's online access, but unless you know the case number you cannot search by name unless there has been a conviction.
Just so EVERYONE knows The Treptows are both crazy and now his Wife is in prison for a road rage incident where she pulled her gun on a lady who was just trying to make her aware that she was going to drive off the road. You people have NO idea who the Treptows are, they are manipulative and use the fact that they have a license to carry as an excuse to become vigilanties when someone makes them mad. Neither of them should EVER be allowed to carry ANY type of weapon again. It's a shame that you are so quick to assume that Landen Beard is guily, when he was clearly innocent and the victim in this case.
Another irrelevant [yet libel] comment made to defame Mr and Mrs Treptow. What is the point of an administrator on this blog if not to keep such post from remaining public?
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