Minneapolis Chief of Police Janeé Harteau resigned Friday after careful reflection on the comments of Minneapolis city officials who told her, in so many words, “We’re gonna fire your ass.”
Although Harteau was not fired, CBS News reports that Harteau issued her resignation “at the request” of Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges—which is the Caucasian version of, “You ain’t gotta go home, but you gotta get the hell outta here!”
“As far as we have come, I’ve lost confidence in the chief’s ability to lead us further—and from the many conversations I’ve had with people around our city, especially this week, it is clear that she has lost the confidence of the people of Minneapolis as well,” Hodges said in a statement.
The entire city has been in pearl-clutching mode since Mohamed Noor, a Minneapolis police officer of Somali descent, shot and killed Justine Damond, a bride-to-be who called 911. The police killing has caused a huge outcry because Damond was scheduled to marry her boyfriend in August. Much of the attention comes from the fact that Damond was a native of Australia, so the drama has gripped two countries. Part of the reason Harteau is taking a fall is that she did not show her face for five days after the tragic incident. The former chief was also under fire for police training and ...
Nah, I’m just kidding. Everyone is outraged because a black, Muslim officer killed a white woman.
In her resignation letter, Harteau states that “last Saturday’s tragedy, as well as some other recent incidents, have caused me to engage in deep reflection.” After being asked not to let the doorknob hit her where the good Lord split her, Harteau said that she was graciously “willing to step aside to let a fresh set of leadership eyes see what more can be done for the MPD to be the very best it can be.”
Harteau had worked at the Minneapolis Police Department for over 30 years, which seems like a long time. But in comparison with America’s centuries-old reverence for white women, Harteau’s career was just a subatomic speck. Although everyone expected at least one head to roll when a white woman was killed by a black man, it is noticeable that Harteau referenced “recent incidents” that made her step down. Her resignation comes little more than a month after Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted after shooting Philando Castile during a traffic stop.
The Damond shooting happened while Harteau was on vacation in what she referred to as a “remote location,” so she did not make a public comment about the incident until five days later. Harteau joins Tomi Lahren among the growing number of white women fired on their days off.
When asked to comment on the national outrage over an innocent person killed by police just before being married, Sean Bell did not respond.
Read more at CBS.