Funny around here, we think of Minnesota as being a relatively "clean" state as far as corruption goes. Couple this with the Al Franken/Norm Coleman thing and it makes me wonder how bad things must be elsewhere.
Would still like to know why the guy didn't just high tail it out of there. (Stuck in traffic?) In which case I would think that there would be plenty of witnesses...
cskny, this should answer your questions too.
This started as a standard somebody-cut-somebody-off incident. Words got shouted, middle fingers got exchanged. Bad decision making on the part of the permit holder, yes.
Permit holder was in his vehicle with wife in passenger seat, child in the back seat. Permit holder finally came to his senses and decided to disengage. Off-duty cop proceeded to follow him, honking and tailgating, yelling obscenities, etc. Permit holder got off the highway onto side roads, off duty cop followed and continued behavior. Mind you, off duty cop is an undercover narc, and looked the part.
They roll up to an intersection. I don't know the details of all this (including if escape was blocked), but permit holder looked over and saw the off duty cop pointing a gun alternating between his wife and child, yelling "I'm going to kill you, I don't care about jail!". Permit holder opened fire, leaning across his wife. He scored at least one hit that I know of (in the leg).
Permit holder drives to nearby business, calls 911 immediately.
At the same time, officer scumbag is calling in an "officer shot!" call. Officers arrest permit holder.
Upon investigation, DA started out charging both. Permit holder charges later got dropped.
Politicos get involved. Venue gets changed to a DIFFERENT county for reasons which still elude me, and permit holder is charged with multiple felonies (and charges against the cop are quietly dropped).
After a very long and drawn out process, permit holder agrees to plead guilty to discharge of firearm in city limits, a low class felony. That alone tells you how full of it this entire process was. He shot the guy, a COP, and that's all they insisted on for a plea? He got played for politics.
Cop is still a cop, and is filing a civil suit because this incident cost him a job as a fed. The feds took one look at this incident and told the cop, "you are NOT what we are looking for...".
There's a lot of extra detail out there, and be aware that anything you find about this on the net isn't necessarily correct. The media here isn't exactly pro-permit. The bloggers are much more straightforward.
-Mark