Port: Lawmaker accuses attorney general of making inappropriate comments about an officer-involved shooting
MINOT, N.D. — A high-speed chase that ended in an officer-involved shooting in Bismarck is now at the center of a spat between state lawmakers and Attorney General Drew Wrigley.
Wrigley has been lobbying, furiously, to get tough new penalties for certain firearm-involved violent crimes and fleeing. As a part of that effort to pass Senate Bill 2107, Wrigley sent to state Rep. Lawrence Klemin some video of the Bismarck incident, as well as some comments on it. Klemin distributed Wrigley’s email to other lawmakers, and that has some crying foul, saying Wrigley’s actions cross a line.
“You asked for a copy of the video taken last evening when a fugitive fled police here in Bismarck at around 6:00 pm, led law enforcement on a very high speed chase all across town, then menacingly emerged from his vehicle with a handgun in his hand, forcing officers to defend the community and fire on the subject,” Wrigley wrote in his email to Klemin, which was forwarded to me by state Rep. Shannon Roers Jones. “That video was taken by a member of the public who then uploaded it to social media. It is attached to this email and is in the public domain.”
