The city of Minneapolis has agreed to compensate Chiasher Vue’s children, who were locked in a car by police when their father was shot and killed.
A federal judge ruled that officers acted properly when Chiasher Vue, 52, pulled a gun on them on Dec. 15, 2019. However, the city of Minneapolis said on May 21 that it had agreed to pay $700,000 for the settlement, after the Vue family filed a lawsuit, accusing police of unconstitutional and illegal detention that night.
Chiasher Vue, shot dead by police in 2019. Photo: CBS
Chiasher suffered a mental breakdown and depression the night of her murder. He drank, sang karaoke and lost control. Chiasher fired several shots into the wall of the house. His son called 911. The police put Chiasher’s children in the car and locked the door.
“My father is mentally ill,” Nou told an officer. “Let me and my sister come and talk to you. We can calm him down.”
“You are not allowed to get out of the car. Don’t ask,” replied the policeman.
Chiasher came out of the house, pointed a gun at the police, and both sides opened fire. Investigators were unable to determine who fired first. Chiasher was hit 13 times. An autopsy showed that his blood alcohol level was three times the normal limit.
After the shooting, Nou, her sister Chamee and her brother Hailee were held for hours in an interrogation room. “I wasn’t allowed to get out of the car, I couldn’t assure my dad that everything was going to be okay,” Chamee said.
Language was also a barrier when police handled the case because Chiasher was not fluent in English and few officers that night knew Hmong. Chiasher is an immigrant from Laos.
Hailee said she wants the Hmong community to understand what happened to her family and that will be a lesson for policy change. “I don’t want any family to go through what the four of us went through,” he said.
Hong Hanh (according to Guardian/Stratribune)
