ND Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is being asked to explain why his office has not made any statements regarding the pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott in 2015.
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| North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem |
In February, 2015, law enforcement in North Dakota refused to inform the public through the media about the basic facts surrounding an officer involved shooting in a hospital parking lot in Grand Forks.
The shooting involved the University of North Dakota Police Department (UNDPD), Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD), Grand Forks Sheriff’s Office (GFSO), and North Dakota Highway Patrol (NDHP).
Law enforcement continuously deferred reporters to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) saying the BCI was the “lead agency”.
On March 3, 2015, the Grand Forks Herald said in an Opinion:
Reached by phone Saturday morning, police Lt. Dwight Love told the Herald there was no danger to the public. He refused to elaborate, and passed off further questions to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Despite numerous requests from the Herald, the BCI did not comment. Adding to the confusion, the attorney general's office — which oversees the BCI — said it was a local responsibility, i.e. our local police force.
Want to breed public distrust of the police and law-enforcement in general? Here's a checklist on how to do it:
- Withhold basic information and let rumors run rampant in coffee shops and on social media sites.
- Appear unorganized and ignorant of basic protocols, such as which agency is actually in charge of public information.
- Adopt a "nothing to see here" approach when the whole darn town knows (and sees) otherwise.
- Disregard state law, which states that agencies are required to provide information in these types of incidents, including a chronology of events as well as initial offense report information showing the offense, date, time, general location, officer and a brief summary of what happened.
Over a year later there has been no known press release from the BCI regarding the ‘investigation’ that was continuously referenced by law enforcement spokesmen in the wake of the Elliott shooting.
Questions now exist whether the referenced BCI investigation actually pre-dated the Elliott shooting and may have been the catalyst for the attempted murder of Elliott by rogue police.
If so – that would mean all police efforts to withhold information from the public, from day one, was an attempt to hide the truth about an attempted murder that involved the GFPD, GFSO, UNDPD, and NDHP.
Stenehjem is running for the position of Governor.
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Timothy Charles Holmseth
320 17th Street N.W.
Unit # 17
East Grand Forks, MN
56721
218.773.1299
218.230.1597 (cell)
tholmseth@wiktel.com
www.writeintoaction.com
February 28, 2016
In Re: BCI Investigation / David James Elliott / Multiple County Pursuit
Wayne Stenehjem
Office of the Attorney General
State Capitol
600 E. Boulevard Ave.
Dept. 125
Bismarck, ND 58505
701.328.2210
ndag@state.nd.us
Attorney General Stenehjem,
I am contacting you in regards to the BCI investigation referenced by North Dakota law enforcement spokesmen following the pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott in February, 2015, in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
As you know, immediately following the pursuit and shooting, law enforcement refused to provide the media with any information regarding the event that began in the Wells Fargo Bank parking lot and ended hours later at Altru Hospital in front of the Emergency Room.
When UND Police Chief Eric Plummer, GFPD Chief Mark Nelson, and Grand Forks Sheriff Bob Rost, finally addressed the public in a press conference days later, they said they were not at liberty to provide the public with information or discuss it because it was a BCI investigation.
I am contacting you in regards to the SUBJECT of that BCI investigation; and the present STATUS of said investigation, which was repeatedly referenced by law enforcement.
According to UND Police Chief Eric Plummer during a press conference, the pursuit of David James Elliott involved “multiple counties” and the voting public needs to know what those counties were.
Respectfully yours,
Timothy Charles Holmseth
Investigative Journalist/Author/Publisher