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Justine Damond

In update 44 of this series I began:

Minneapolis, MN, 15 July, 2017, 2330.  Justine Damond, an Australian immigrant and fiancé of Don Damond of Minneapolis called the police to report a woman who sounded like she might be in distress somewhere behind her home in one of the best neighborhoods of Minneapolis.  Within minutes of the arrival of two police officers, Damond would be dead, shot by Officer Mohamed Noor.

What did she do to provoke Noor to shoot her?  She walked up to the driver’s side door of their police car, where Off. Matthew Harrity sat behind the wheel.  So utterly unaware of their surroundings were they, both were frightened out of their wits by the appearance of the small, pajama-clad blonde woman carrying only a cell phone.  Noor, sitting in the front passenger seat, drew his handgun and fired a single shot, striking Damond in the abdomen.  She would die in that alley within minutes.

I documented the case in depth in the SMM Damond archive, available here.  On June 7, 2019, Noor was sentenced to 12.5 years for the murder of Damond.  Of course, race entered into the case because Noor is a Somali immigrant, and Damond was a blonde, white woman.

Mohamed Noor (center)

There is considerable evidence Noor was a diversity hire, unfit for police service.  The then mayor had constantly drooled all over Noor, playing up the racial angle for the Somali community in Minneapolis.  Of course, the MPD and local and national media studiously avoided that angle of the case.  Eventually, a $20 million dollar settlement with Damond’s survivors was reached.  That, by the way, is an extraordinarily large settlement, which indicates even the crazed leftists in charge of Minneapolis realized how much worse the payout would be if the case went to trial and all police and city records were exposed.

There was a remaining issue, however.  The Minnesota Third Degree Murder statute under which Noor was convicted was controversial, yet the conviction was upheld by the Minnesota Court of Appeals—until now:

Mohamed Noor, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017 in the alley behind her home, is scheduled to be released from incarceration next week.

NOTE:  Noor was released on 06-27-22. He will be on parole until January 24, 2024.

Noor, 36, received a new sentence in October 2021 of nearly five years in prison, and that set Monday as his release date, instead of several years later under a previous sentence vacated by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance imposed Noor’s ultimate prison sentence of four years and nine months for second-degree manslaughter after the high court overturned his third-degree murder conviction for killing Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home in southwest Minneapolis.

The high court agreed with Noor’s attorneys that because of how the statute is written, the murder count cannot apply when a defendant’s actions are directed at a specific person. Justices vacated Noor’s conviction and sentence and sent his case back to district court for resentencing.

A sign that appeared in Minneapolis after Damond’s murder

It is ironic it was not the Damond murder, but the death of drug addicted felon George Floyd that provoked pubic outrage.  Circa July, 2022, the MPD is badly understaffed.  Every officer who can is retiring, leaving for other agencies, or simply leaving police work entirely, and the City is having a Devil’s own time trying to find anyone willing to work for the MPD.

At fault are the D/S/C rulers of Minneapolis.  It was they who hired and praised Noor and imposed woke lunacy.  It was they who reviled and defunded their police, and who allowed their city to burn in the Floyd riots, and it is they who continue to exalt wokeness above public safety.  Remaining MPD officers know they will not be supported if they do their jobs, particularly if they arrest black criminals.  They, like the officers of all D/S/C ruled cities, do the minimum, collect their paychecks, and go home at the end of their shifts.

Damond, her fiance Don,(center) and his son, Zach

It would seem, absent additional bad behavior by Noor, this is the end of this sorry chapter of American policing.  George Floyd, a violent, drug-addicted felon who died in the act of trying to pass counterfeit money, will always been remembered and praised as a holy social justice martyr.  Let us rather remember Justine Damond, a good, kind and innocent woman who died trying to help others.