Minnesota Democrat Who Vowed to ‘Dismantle’ Police Calls for More Action on Crime After Being Violently Carjacked
A leader in Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party was beaten and carjacked in front of her young children, leading her to call for more action against violent crime — after previously saying she would work “to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.”
Shivanthi Sathanandan, the party’s second vice chair, detailed the harrowing carjacking outside her Minneapolis home in a Wednesday post on Facebook.
“Four very young men, all carrying guns, beat me violently down to the ground in front of our kids,” Sathanandan wrote of the Tuesday run-in, in a post that included a photo of her bloodied face.
“This is the face of a mother who just had the sh– beaten out of her,” the post continued. “A mother whose only thought was, ‘let me run far enough and fight hard enough so that my kids have a chance to get away.’”
Sathanandan wrote that the assault left her with a broken leg, cuts to her head, bruises across her body — and “rage” in her heart.
“These men knew what they were doing,” wrote Sathanandan. “I have NO DOUBT they have done this before. Yet they are still on OUR STREETS.”
“We need to get illegal guns off of our streets, catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM,” she continued in part. “REMEMBER ME when you are thinking about supporting letting juveniles and young people out of custody to roam our streets instead of HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.”
Sathanandan went on to thank loved ones, colleagues and responders — including officers from the local police precinct and department Chief Brian O’Hara.
While some commenters wished Sathanandan well, many, however, were quick to question her call for law and order in light of a previous Facebook post from June 2020 in which she voiced intent to bring down the very department that came to her aid.
“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department,” Sathanandan wrote in part in that post, which was made less than two weeks after an officer from that department killed detainee George Floyd by kneeling on his neck.
Floyd’s slaying sparked sometimes destructive demonstrations both in Minneapolis and across the nation, as well as a large-scale push for police reform. The officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was fired, convicted of charges including murder and sentenced to more than two decades behind bars.
Minneapolis has seen about 3% more assaults in 2023 compared to the same point last year, according to crime statistics current through Wednesday.
The number of carjackings over the same period, however, has been nearly halved, according to the same statistics.
Local outlet KSTP reported Thursday that police later found Sathanandan’s vehicle abandoned, but had yet to publicly release any information on the suspects.
“I am heartbroken at the news of Shivanthi’s attack," said Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin in a statement to KSTP. "It is my sincere hope that the people who assaulted Shivanthi are quickly brought to justice and face punishment commensurate with the severity of their crimes."
"My heart goes out to Shivanthi and her family and I hope their recovery from such a horrifying experience is as swift as possible.”
https://themessenger.com/news/minnesota-democrat-vowed-dismantle-police-violently-carjacked