Transcripts

[DRUMMING, SINGING] MARK ZDECHLIK: Gathered in front of the Hennepin County Detox Center, the group demanded changes in the way the unit is run. Jerry Stafford of the American Indian Services Halfway House says rather than getting help, many inebriated people who end up here are abused.

JERRY STAFFORD: When a man or a woman is drunk on the street, the police will beat them up. And then when they get here, there's an elevator in here. They beat them up in the elevator. If a guy gets out of line or if he's just minding his own business, man or a woman, mostly Indians they would do this to, run in the room and jump on him. They put their knee right in their back, hold them down, and shoot them up with this drug. One woman has lost her baby, had a miscarriage. There's been one reaction after another.

SPEAKER 1: And the quiet room, and the--

JERRY STAFFORD: It's a horror chamber. This is what we've dubbed as the horror chamber of South Minneapolis.

MARK ZDECHLIK: According to members of the group, Native American women have been raped in detox, and abuse ranging from name-calling to physical attacks is commonplace. Another man, Pete Johnson, said he has spent time in the Hennepin County detox facility. In addition to demanding that the allegations be investigated, Johnson and the others want changes at the center.

PETE JOHNSON: Get staff up there that know what they're doing and can treat alcoholics like human beings instead of animals.

MARK ZDECHLIK: The director of Hennepin County's Chemical Health Division, Robert Olander, acknowledges there have been problems at the detox unit. He says an investigation is underway to address allegations of abuse.

ROBERT OLANDER: We're trying to check them out to find out, what day did that happen? Where did it happen? What wing did it happen in? So there's no question that problems of client care occur in any detox center. They happen in Hennepin County's detox center. We work hard to minimize their occurring in terms of the quality of care for our clients in the community, but we also work very hard in, when they occur, responding to them.

MARK ZDECHLIK: The Native American leaders at the rally said they've been complaining about abuse at the detox unit for years, and their allegations continually fall on deaf ears.

CLYDE BELLECOURT: It echoes good in here. They know we're here.

MARK ZDECHLIK: After marching from South Minneapolis to City Hall, the group made its way into the mayor's office. There, the focus was on police investigations into recent attacks on Native Americans. As the families of some victims looked on, American Indian Movement leader Clyde Bellecourt accused Mayor Don Fraser and some police administration officials of placing crimes against Native Americans low on their priority list.

CLYDE BELLECOURT: We see our Indian people being pushed aside. No investigation. Nobody coming forward. Nobody assuring these women here, these children here. Nobody's calling them and saying, hey, we're doing the best we can. We're investigating. We got a suspect. We're going to pick somebody up. Nobody's telling them anything.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Fraser said he didn't know the specifics of any of the shootings and stabbings the group is trying to call attention to.

DON FRASER: This is your community just as much as it's anybody else's community, and our intention is that everyone in this community is treated fairly and that our city policies and administration work to see that justice is done everywhere, and for everyone.

MARK ZDECHLIK: One woman whose son was recently killed said police told her their investigation into the killing of Officer Jerry Haaf was more important than her son's death. Deputy Minneapolis Police Chief Ted Faul, who's in charge of investigations, said if such a statement was made, it was completely inappropriate. He said police aren't ignoring the crimes.

TED FAUL: Realize that these cases have been investigated and are continuing to be investigated now. We have had people assigned to them from the time that they took place.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Faul says police are currently looking for two suspects in one of the shootings, and that vigorous investigations into the other crimes will continue. This is Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio.