Black Lives Matter wants a St. Paul police officer who last month posed a Facebook message encouraging motorists to run over Martin Luther King Day protesters fired. If officer Jeffrey Rothecker is not fired, the group said, it will hold a “nonviolent” shut down of the Red Bull Crashed Ice event in St. Paul later this month.

On Monday, Black Lives Matter issued seven demands, including the termination of Rothecker, who was put on paid administrative leave after the controversial Facebook posting. The post, under the moniker “JM Roth,” urged people to run over marchers who were protesting the deaths of Jamar Clark and Marcus Golden. He wrote that people would likely not be charged for hitting someone if they pulled over and called police afterward.

“We are not surprised that Jeffrey Rothecker is still on paid administrative leave, but we find it detestable that he still holds the title of St. Paul Police Officer and continues to represent this institution,” the group said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Black Lives Matter said it will gather at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Cathedral in St. Paul, epicenter of the popular winter spectacle that draws more than 100,000 people to races in which ice skaters make their way down a long twisting and turning track.

Among its demands, Black Lives Matter also said Rothecker should be stripped of his license to be a peace officer and that criminal charges should be filed against him.

“It’s time to bring our voices together as a people and let the gatekeepers of white supremacy know that, it’s social justice time and officer Rothecker needs to be fired and criminally prosecuted,” the statement said.

Here is the list of Black Lives Matter’s demands:

— Terminate Rothecker’s employment, and strip him of his pension and his license to be a peace officer “anywhere for the rest of his life.”

— Reinvestigate every case in which Rothecker’s investigation contributed to a conviction.

— Eliminate the progressive discipline policy in the collective bargaining agreement.

— File criminal charges against Rothecker for a minimum of disorderly conduct and terroristic threats.

— Appoint a police officers certification board to “include black and brown people who reflect the communities with the most disparities in the criminal justice system.”

— Have Gov. Mark Dayton issue an executive order barring the grand jury process in police-involved killings and assaults.

— Have the Department of Justice reopen the case of Golden, who was shot and killed last year by St. Paul police.

GOPUSA Editor’s Note: The following video is from a Minnesota Black Lives Matter march in the summer of 2015.


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(c)2016 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

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