VIDEO: Minnesota Law Enforcement Agencies Slash Tires Of Protesters' Parked Cars

Two law enforcement agencies in Minneapolis have confirmed earlier reports that claimed deputies slashed the tires of parked and unoccupied vehicles during two days of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

Videos and images of the incidents were posted online earlier. Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bruce Gordon told The Hill on Monday (June 8) that state troopers on patrol knifed tires during the ongoing protests and unrest.

“While we can’t speak for other law enforcement agencies and their tactics, there were instances when State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tires to keep vehicles from being used in attacks, and so we could tow the vehicles later for collection of evidence if necessary,” he said in a statement.

He said the officers meant to stop vehicles from “driving dangerously at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement,” and quell those containing “items used to cause harm during violent protests.”

“While not a typical tactic, vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protests were occurring,” he told the publication.

Per a report by Mother Jones, the incidents occured during nights of tear gas and rubber bullets and left some protesters, news crews and medics in Minneapolis stranded with their car tires flattened. While many assumed the protesters were to blame, the online videos and images showed deputies were responsible.

The publication reported that officers in military style uniforms were seen puncturing tires in the Kmart parking lot at Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue on May 30. Images from S. Washington Avenue at Interstate 35W also reportedly appeared to show officers with knives deflating the tires of two unoccupied cars with repeated jabs, on the following day.

Anoka County Sheriff’s Lt. Andy Knotz admitted to their deputies being involved in the incidents. He said the cops were ordered to join the patrol by state-led Multiagency Command Center, which was coordinating law enforcement during the protests.

Knotz told Star Tribune that towing the vehicles wasn’t an option because “you could not get any tow trucks in there,” given the huge crowd of protesters in the area.

Star Tribune reporter Chris Serres was one of the news crews who had their car tires flattened while he was covering the protests on the night of May 30. "As far as I could see, it looked like all their tires had been slashed," Serres told the publication.

Likewise, Los Angeles documentary and television producer and former head of BuzzFeed’s video team, Andrew Kimmel, tweeted the picture of his flat tire, saying, “Minneapolis Police slashed every tire on my rental car, as well as every tire of every car in this parking lot.”

Radio-Canada journalists who visited Minneapolis to cover the protests also were impacted.

Val Ebertz, a protester who was witness to police knifing tires near Kmart, told the Star Tribune that those were the same officers who "were tear-gassing and shooting us with rubber bullets to try to push us farther back into the Kmart parking lot."

A couple more tweets featuring vehicles with flat tires as a result of the police actions also surfaced online.