Jury acquits Minneapolis cop who fired into a car

A Hennepin County District Court Jury acquitted Minneapolis Police Officer Efrem Hamilton on all three counts Tuesday afternoon.

The jury returned the verdict after a trial that took two weeks to try. Hamilton was charged with second-degree assault, intentional discharge of a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm.

“We are very disappointed in the jury verdict of not guilty, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said. “We disagree with the conclusion but we respect the process. Those of us fortunate enough to work in the system must support the system and we do.

“We continue to believe that Officer Hamilton should not have fired that shot at a car full of people within seconds of getting out of his car. We do not believe this was good police work and hope not to see such carelessness in the future. Notwithstanding our view, the jury believed that we had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Hamilton had violated criminal laws.

“Again, we must accept the jury’s verdict. And we do.”

In the early morning hours of Nov. 19, 2016, Hamilton was working off-duty at Hennepin Avenue and Fifth Street when he heard a call of shots fired near 408 Third Ave. N. The initial reports by police was they were trying to stop a gray Cadillac.

As other responding officers were stopping the Cadillac, a gray/black BMW driven by a 23-year-old woman was following the instructions of the first responding officers and was backing her car down Third Avenue. While doing that, Officer Hamilton pulled his squad car into the middle of Third Avenue and came to a stop. The young woman backed her BMW into the officer’s squad car, causing minor damage but no airbags deployed, according to the complaint.

Officer Hamilton jumped out of his squad car and, without giving any verbal commands, fired a shot at the BMW. There were six people in the car. The shot hit the BMW in the rear driver-side corner near the trunk opening. No one was injured in the shooting.