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Thursday, February 10, 2011

[MN] New Ramsey Co. Sheriff Bostrom suspended discipline of deputy accused of wife-abuse

Ramsey County Sheriffs past and present, Bob Fletcher and Matt Bostrom

Former Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher:
"... A person with anger issues and a history of violence against women should never be allowed to carry a gun and a badge"...

Was the deputy wrongly suspended or wrongly rescued from his discipline? Minneapolis Police Internal Affairs is investigating.


RAMSEY SHERIFF’S CAMPAIGN RILES SCANDAL: Deputy’s ex-wife accuses him of choking her
FOX 9 News
by Tom Lyden
10 Feb 2011
[Excerpts] ...There are plenty of questions floating around. Did former [Ramsey County] Sheriff Bob Fletcher demote an officer because he supported his opponent, or is the new sheriff [Matt Bostrom] giving the deputy a second chance he doesn’t deserve? Scenes from Bostrom’s campaign trail show Ramsey County Deputy Dan Ruittimann was one of his earliest supporters, but behind the scenes, Ruittimann was having personal troubles. Ruittimann’s ex-wife was accusing him of trying to choke her and used grainy photos of her bruised neck to get a restraining order. New Brighton police investigated their domestic troubles last summer after Ruittimann allegedly told his ex-wife, "I’m gonna ----ing kill your father tonight" and then made a cutting motion across his throat. No criminal charges were filed, but Ramsey County’s Internal Affairs Unit determined it was "conduct unbecoming of an officer." Before leaving office, Fletcher demoted Ruittimann, taking his gun and badge. Bostrom, however, suspended the discipline the day he took office, alleging that Fletcher had punished them for supporting his opponent... election records show that Ruittimann gave money to the Bostrom both directly and through a political action committee, and gave his campaign more than $1,000. Fletcher declined to comment on the internal affairs investigation, but said, "This New Brighton police report speaks for itself. A person with anger issues and a history of violence against women should never be allowed to carry a gun and a badge." That statement makes a moment from the campaign where Bostrom talked about the lessons they’ve learned about domestic violence seem somewhat ironic... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence (IPV) abuse law enforcement public safety lethal teflon minnesota state politics favors]

9 comments:

  1. Note that this case was never taken to court, probably with very good reasons. Other deputy cases that were taken to court and convicted, were found innocent in the internal affairs investigations of the previous sheriff. More research would have found the close personal ties of the ex-wife's family to Fletcher. Hmmm, do we have any recent news of Fletcher claiming to have evidence that is now missing? Did anyone note that this new sheriff turned the case over to another police department to investigate. The real irony here is that Fox news is paying attention when the previous sheriff finding convicted deputies innocent in internal affairs investigations was NOT covered.

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  2. Come on Grace! First of all, in the interest of full disclosure, you should probably tell the nice folks here that YOU were a volunteer/mouthpiece for the Bostrom campaign and that Ruittiman was one of your fellow campaign volunteers. Then, when you get on this blog and run your mouth, everyone here would understand, exactly, what your true agenda is.

    Secondly, Bostrom did NOT ask Minneapolis PD Internal Affairs to investigate the incident in which your friend is accused of choking his ex-wife and threatening to murder her father, via slitting his throat. On the contrary, Bostrom asked Minneapolis PD IA to investigate if Ruittimann's suspension was political. Funny that Bostrom is more concerned about politics than he is about such serious allegations, concerning one of his officers and campaign volunteers.

    With respect to Ramsey County's failure to file charges against your friend Ruittimann; Are you saying that Ruittimann's ex-wife put those bruises on her own neck? Or, are you saying, possibly, that she did something to deserve being choked? You state that Ramsey County failed to charge this case with "good reason". I know this might come as a surprise to you, but most reasonable people cannot understand why he was not charged, since his ex-wife was very obviously choked. FYI: it is a felony in the state of Minnesota to choke someone.

    Matt Bostrom already made a decision that landed him "Behind the Blue Wall", and he hasn't been sheriff for 6 weeks, yet. Moreover, he is doing himself a great disservice by allowing you to post comments in his or Ruittimann's defense on this blog. You see, Grace, this blog is inspired by the tragic murder of a beautiful young woman and mother, and if you had bothered to read anything on the blog, you would have known that this is the wrong place to defend a law enforcement officer who is accused of choking his ex-wife, let alone defending a law enforcement official who would rather play politics than to look in to the actual matter at hand.

    "Crystal was fatally shot by the husband she was divorcing - Tacoma Washington's Police Chief David Brame. The shooting came one day after city officials publicly announced that Crystal's claims of abuse and threats would not be investigated because it was a "private matter." It was a very public murder-suicide though, executed in a shopping center parking lot with their 2 young children running to them."

    Yep, 6 weeks on the job and it doesn't appear that your Matt Bostrom is going to make appropriate decisions, concerning allegations of violent behavior of his officers, as he has already demonstrated.

    By the way, Grace...the election is over! So, save your campaign rhetoric for someone else. We don't care about your personal/political vendetta against the former sheriff. What we do care about, is that law enforcement officials respond, swiftly and appropriately, to allegations about their officers.

    Your defense of your friend Ruittimann is predictable. But, Bostrom allowing you to defend his decision, or Ruittimann's alleged behavior (especially, on this blog) is intolerable, because Bostrom is an elected sheriff and he campaigned on doing something about domestic violence! If Bostrom refuses to act on allegations against his own officers, I fear for all victims of domestic violence in Ramsey County. Your Matt Bostrom could learn a lot from the former sheriff.

    "Former Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher:
    "... A person with anger issues and a history of violence against women should never be allowed to carry a gun and a badge"..."

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  3. Wow.. Can't believe that you would say this. Obviously this is you Fletcher, or someone close to you. Let's put on here what you did to your first wife. You have anger issues and a history of violence against women. So Quit trying to make yourself look good, you are nothing but a con!

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  4. Oh you are funny, poster #3!

    So, you want to play "Who am I?" Ok, let's play! Wrong, my name is not Bob Fletcher, and I am not related to him. My turn. I would guess that your name is none other than William K, Finney, because William K. Finney is the ONLY person who has EVER accused former Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, of domestic violence. Bob Fletcher's former wife has NEVER accused him of domestic violence. Nor, for the record, has any other woman ever done so.

    You state Bob Fletcher has a "history of violence against women". Really? Just where is this supposed "history" documented and who are his victims?

    I understand that it is second nature for a little troll like yourself to hide behind your computer screen and tell blatant lies about people you do not like. But, for the record, NO ONE has ever accused Bob Fletcher of domestic violence, with the exception of former police chief William K. Finney; who made such a baseless accusation on local television while he was running in the sheriff's race trying to unseat Bob Fletcher.

    Bob Fletcher does NOT have a history of violence against women, and no one has ever accused him of having "anger issues", either. Oh, did I mention that Finney made the accusation while he was defending his good buddy Aaron Foster who murdered his girlfriend? I think Finney's exact words were "Bob, don't you besmirch a man's good name".

    So, now that we've cleared this up, should we talk about your women? Oh, that's right. I almost forgot. You are a married man, aren't you? That must have slipped your mind! Let me know if you want to kick it around, though. It could be a very interesting conversation!! I'll even invite Linda to join the conversation!

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  5. How could you shoot your dog in front of your wife and tell her that she is next? oh and your a married man also, one who is living in a hotel because your wife found out you are cheating on her. The citizens of Ramsey County have finally took you for what you are and that is a CON FLETCHER! You should not have a badge or a gun!

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  6. Seems to me that anyone, and especially an officer of the law, who would shoot their dog in front of a child and threaten the life of his wife would make headlines. Maybe the delivery boy forgot to deliver my newspaper that day, huh? How many of you little trolls did it take to think up this one?

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  7. Hmm.. Nothing was said about a child, so you not only did it in front of your wife, but your child too? WOW

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  8. lydon the feds and attorneys are coming for you.

    ReplyDelete

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