James & Aisha Keten: Door kicked in, dogs shot, James beaten & verbally abused, nothing found

M · Jul 6, 2012

City Pages: Rickia Russell wins $1 million police brutality settlement after burns from flashbang grenade (Dec 10 2011)

On April 13, 2011, Aisha Keten was in the bathroom, about to brush her teeth and dress for work. Suddenly, she heard a boom, followed by gunshots. She grabbed for Remy, her dog, but the animal slipped away.

Minneapolis cops poured through Keten's front door. Her husband, James, was in the living room, with their other dog, Kano.

Bang! A gunshot rang out, and Kano went down in a heap.

"Get down on the floor!" the officers yelled.

"Can I get my dog?" Aisha asked.

"Get down!"

Shots rang out again. Remy, who was in the kitchen, fell to the floor. The Ketens' four-year-old was sitting at the kitchen table, and blood spattered her pajamas and her Dora the Explorer coloring book.

Aisha sat on the floor topless, exposed for all the cops to see. James followed orders and lay flat on the ground. The officers tied his hands behind his back.

Why'd you do that to my dogs?" James asked.

"Shut the (expletive deleted) up, nigger," an officer allegedly responded, which the city disputes. "They deserved it."

The cops, in riot gear, tore through the house. They turned over the beds and dumped out the contents of Aisha's designer purses. The cops stayed for 15 minutes, but found nothing.

The MPD had a warrant to search the Ketens' home, at 2405 Humboldt Avenue North. They were supposed to be looking for James's brother, although he no longer lived there.

The warrant required police to knock on the door and announce their presence. But the cops didn't do that, according to a lawsuit.

"Another big whiff, where they don't knock and announce, and they don't discover any evidence," Paul Applebaum, the Ketens' attorney, says of the police. "They just come in and shoot up the place, beat people up. They don't find anything, and then they just leave."
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Star Tribune: Dangerous dogs are a quandary for police (April 15 2012)

The shooting of two dogs during a police raid on April 13, 2011, has led to a civil lawsuit against the city by their owners, James and Aisha Keten.

The couple's three-year-old daughter was eating breakfast at the kitchen table in the Humboldt Avenue North house when police entered the front door on a warrant. As soon as the officers entered the house, they shot and killed one dog, Kano, in the living room, then moments later fired "multiple, hollow-point rounds towards the kitchen table, killing another of the Keten's dogs," Remy, that was lying beneath the table, the suit alleges. The Ketens say neither dog displayed aggression and the bullets passed very close to the 3-year-old.

The officers then restrained James Keten, 28, with plastic zip ties and beat and kicked him in the head, neck and face while he lay on the floor, the suit alleges. After a search of the house, Keten was not arrested or charged with any crime.

The confrontation could have been avoided if the police had knocked on the front door as they were required to by the warrant, said Applebaum, the family's lawyer. It would have given the family time to secure the dogs, he said.

In court papers, the city acknowledged that Officer Chad Fuchs, who shot Remy in the kitchen, could see the girl at the kitchen table. But the city denied that the dogs were not aggressive, and denied beating James Keten.
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Justia: Keten et al v. Does 1-15 et al

Plaintiffs: James Keten and Aisha Keten
Defendants: John Does 1-15 and Minneapolis, The City of

Case Number: 0:2011cv01520
Filed: June 9, 2011

Court: Minnesota District Court
Office: DMN Office
County: Hennepin
Presiding Judge: Donovan W. Frank
Referring Judge: Janie S. Mayeron

Nature of Suit: Civil Rights - Other Civil Rights
Cause: 42:1983
Jurisdiction: Federal Question
Jury Demanded By: None

M · Jul 6, 2012

Kano

Remy

M · Apr 9, 2013

My pockets & my neighbors' are being lightened by another quarter million dollars to pay for this wanton abuse ...

As far as I know, none of the police officers were ever disciplined in this case, so it'll just be business & thumping as usual in the neighborhoods. If you live in Minneapolis, prepare to dig ever deeper into your pockets to fund these assaults.

Star Tribune: Family wins $225,000 settlement in lawsuit against Minneapolis police (Apr 6 2013)

A family that sued a Minneapolis police over a 2011 raid of their home, one that led to the shooting of two dogs and a list of ugly allegations against officers, has won a $225,000 settlement, a city spokesman confirmed this week. The allegations laid out in James and Aisha Keten’s lawsuit against 15 members of the department portray the officers as cavalier and reckless, firing weapons at targets near children, screaming profanities and racial slurs, and taking cash from the family while searching for a rifle.

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James & Aisha Keten: Door kicked in, dogs shot, James beaten & verbally abused, nothing found

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