Grand Forks PSAP confirms GFPD officer entered false information into police report on night of police shooting

Cover-up leads to Somalian man charged with attempted murder

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on April 23, 2016, 10:14 A.M. CST

Grand Forks County PSAP has confirmed that data entered into a police report filed by a Grand Forks Police officer involved in a police shooting – was false information.

The latest discovery of deception is not new in the case.

Evidence of a wide scale cover-up by North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Grand Forks County States Attorney David Jones, and other high ranking law enforcement officials continues to emerge regarding the police pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott on February 27-28, 2015.

ND Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem

Grand Forks 911 has confirmed Matthew Bullinger, an officer with the Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD), entered information into an electronic police report that did not match PSAP records.

Bullinger was a key figure in the events that surrounded the pursuit and shooting of Elliott.

There appears to efforts underway to frustrate Write Into Action’s attempts to obtain information. Write Into Action has made multiple public record requests for information to the GFPD regarding the Elliott case. Every text document involving 911 transcripts and/or police communications provided by the GFPD has not included the ‘time’.

The latest discrepancy was discovered after Write Into Action directly contacted Grand Forks PSAP and asked for the specific time of an event. PSAP personnel then identified the specific times that were in question.

The report filed by Bullinger is a critical piece of evidence in the timeline of events that took place shortly before the Elliott pursuit, and may ultimately lead to even more explosive developments regarding an immigrant from Somalia that was charged with attempted murder shortly after the Elliott fiasco.

There is a reason why GFPD is neglecting to give ‘times’ of events.

On February 27, 2015, at 10:49 P.M., Bullinger entered a Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) report that said he was dispatched to 1850 South 34th Street, Unit 217, Grand Forks, at 10:45 P.M.

The ‘time’ Bullinger placed in the report is false.

“The time PSAP received the loud party call was 2216 hours (10:16 P.M.), and it was then dispatched at 2233 (10:33 P.M.) hours, matching both our communication times and call entries in the computer,” said Shannon LaHaise, Center Supervisor, Grand Forks PSAP.

Bullinger’s claim that he was dispatched at 10:45 P.M. was off by12 minutes.

Those 12 minutes are critical.

Here’s why.

Bullinger, as well as GFPD officer Dan Harvala, were interviewed by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) regarding the police shooting of Elliott.

Both Bullinger and Harvala responded to the loud party complaint on South 34th Street.

Grand Forks Police Department Officer Dan Harvala and Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger responded to a loud party complaint. Grand Forks Police Department Officer Dan Harvala indicated there was a suspicious vehicle complaint from the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) pending and that once he cleared the loud party complaint he responded to the suspicious vehicle complaint. Grand Forks Police Department Officer Dan Harvala said that the suspicious vehicle was for a black pickup in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Bank, Grand Forks, North Dakota. – ND BCI

The BCI report shows Bullinger and Harvala responded to the loud party complaint BEFORE responding to the ‘suspicious vehicle’ report, which was “pending”.

The “pending” call was made by the cleaning lady at Wells Fargo Bank to report a ‘suspicious vehicle’ (David Elliott) at 10:41 P.M.

Write Into Action will now do ND AG Wayne Stenehjem and Grand Forks States Attorney David Jones’ jobs for them.

Observe:

• Bullinger and Harvala are dispatched to a loud party call at 10:33 P.M.
• For some reason, Bullinger and Harvala don’t respond to the 10:33 P.M. dispatch
• Eight minutes later, at 10:41 P.M., the cleaning lady at Wells Fargo Bank calls 911 to report a suspicious vehicle (David Elliott) lingering in the parking lot
• Bullinger and Harvala don’t respond to the Wells Fargo call either, but, now, rather, respond to the loud party complaint that has been in the system since 10:33 P.M., and leave the Wells Fargo call that came at 10:41 P.M. ‘pending’
• Bullinger then files a CAD report at 10:49 P.M. saying he was dispatched to the loud party complaint at 10:45 P.M. (which is a lie because it was dispatched at 10:33 P.M.) and is now clearing it

UND POLICE OFFICER JERAD BRAATEN

UND police officer Jerad Braaten shot Elliott on the night in question.

According to BCI records, Braaten was not scheduled to work on the night in question but did. After somehow becoming scheduled to work he was supposed to begin his shift at 11:00 P.M. However, he began his shift at 10:30 P.M. instead. He did not activate his dash-cam apparatus, which he said he forgot to do. He did not properly place his body-cam on himself so it did not capture the shooting. The body-cam did not fit properly because he was not wearing his regular uniform.

So where was Braaten at 10:30 P.M.?

According to dispatch records obtained from UNDPD, Braaten was at South 34th Street at 10:30 P.M. performing a traffic stop.

Ok – that’s two GFPD officers and one UND officer at South 34th Street at the same time.

Is there anything special or unique about the address of the loud party complaint that was at 1850 South 34th Street, Grandview Apartments, Unit 17, Grand Forks, North Dakota?

Well, let’s see.

WRONG PLACE – WRONG TIME

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time”
– Mohamed Aweis Mohamed (now serving five years in prison)

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/3755331-630-pm-update-police-arrest-man-suspicion-attempted-murder-grand-forks-apartment

http://www.valleynewslive.com/home/headlines/Grand-Forks-Police-Arrest-Man-for-Attempted-Murder-305435021.html

Oh snap!

A Grand Forks man has been charged with Attempted Murder, Terrorizing and Reckless Endangerment, after a gun was fired in an apartment Thursday night. Police responded to this apartment at 1850 South 34th Street at 11:30 Thursday night, after getting a report of gunfire. When they arrived on the scene they found Mohamed Aweis Mohamed being detained by a man. The two men had apparently just gotten into a fight. – Valley News / Neil Carlson

Write Into Action continues to investigate.

For more information READ ALSO –

University of North Dakota police department implicated in attempted murder cover-up

Official alibi of cops crumbling after police shooting in Grand Forks, North Dakota – – – Police shooting of unarmed man connected to transnational drug trafficking in North Dakota?

Did North Dakota police officer tamper with body-cam shortly before police shooting?

UND football team operating interstate drug trafficking ring

Abracadabra! – BCI investigation into police shooting of unarmed man contains impossibilities and absurdities – – – Wayne Stenehjem’s BCI uses magic to justify police shooting

GFPD records clerk could not provide ‘Time’ of the 911 call she was transcribing – – -Official narrative regarding police shooting of unarmed man in serious question

Altru shooting 911 records: ‘Second person’ and ‘thousands of pills’ cast doubt upon official narrative of Altru police shooting – – – Did call to police by Wells Fargo cleaning lady interrupt drug activity involving law enforcement?

VISIT WWW.WRITEINTOACTION.COM

University of North Dakota Police Department officers implicated in attempted murder cover-up

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on April 19, 2016, 10:18 P.M. CST

An impossible coincidence implicates six University of North Dakota (UND) police officers as being involved in a cover-up of the true facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting of David James Elliott on February 28, 2015.

Write Into Action has discovered UND police officers Mark Thorpe, Jayson Waltz, Jerad Braaten, Danny Weigel, Frank Lanasa, and Heather Hopkins were clearly involved in the events that led up to the shooting of David Elliott.

On February 27-28, 2015, local, county, and state police in North Dakota pursued David Elliott through multiple counties before he was shot six times – three times in the head – in the Altru hospital parking lot.

Elliott was shot by UND police officer Jerad Braaten.

Law enforcement refused to talk to the media for three days after the shooting. When a press conference was finally held, the story given was that Grand Forks Police were dispatched to Wells Fargo Bank at 10:41 P.M. after the cleaning lady called and reported a suspicious vehicle that had been parked in the parking lot for about an hour. According to police, a GFPD officer attempted to stop David Elliott and a high-speed chase ensued. The pursuit was called off by a GFPD supervisor.

But that story is not holding up.

According to the official story, only two UND officers (Jerad Braaten and Heather Hopkins) were involved in the Elliott pursuit. Hopkins was an intern and was riding in Braaten’s car with him. And – according to Braaten and Hopkins in their statements to the ND BCI, they were not involved in the initial pursuit of Elliott around 11:00 P.M. Braaten and Hopkins said they only became involved at the very end of the pursuit, which was well after midnight.

UND officers Thorpe, Waltz, Weigel, and Lanasa were never interviewed by the ND BCI after the shooting and have never been suspected as being involved.

Police records show that cannot be true.

Evidence shows all six UND officers were involved from the very beginning.

The evidence is found in a comparison between a GFPD officers dash-cam, and UND police dispatch records, which shows what was really going on.

The initial pursuit of David Elliott down I-29 by the GFPD was officially terminated at 11:07:42 P.M.

That is the same time – almost to the very second – that the six UND police officers, including Braaten (the shooter), ‘Cleared’ a “Suspicious Person” call from the Gamma Phi Beta sorority house on UND campus at 11:07:49. READ DISPATCH LOG

Furthermore – dash-cam evidence from the GFPD squad car shows the officer began following Elliott at 10:57 P.M. and activated his red lights at 10:58 P.M.

That corresponds exactly with the time the police dispatch records show the six UND officers begin to ‘Arrive’ to the ‘Suspicious Person’ call that was placed at 10:50 P.M.

It all began and ended at the same time.

The ND BCI summarized the event:

UND Police Department Officer JERAD BRAATEN, Grand Forks Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Andrew (Andy) Schneider, Grand Forks Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nathan (Nate) Moen, Grand Forks Police Department Sergeant Mark Ellingson, Grand Forks Police Department Corporal Wesley (Wes) Vert III, Grand Forks Police Department Officer Christopher (Chris) Brown, NDHP Trooper Matthew (Matt) Peschong, and NDHP Trooper Brittany Schmidt were involved in a pursuit with DAVID ELLIOTT. -ND BCI

There is absolutely no mention of UND officers Thorpe, Waltz, Weigel, and Lanasa.

Elliott’s vehicle was found to contain “thousands” of pills on the night he was shot by police. However, nobody was ever criminally charged regarding the pills.

For more information READ ALSO –

Official alibi of cops crumbling after police shooting in Grand Forks, North Dakota – – – Police shooting of unarmed man connected to transnational drug trafficking in North Dakota?

Did North Dakota police officer tamper with body-cam shortly before police shooting?

UND football team operating interstate drug trafficking ring

Abracadabra! – BCI investigation into police shooting of unarmed man contains impossibilities and absurdities – – – Wayne Stenehjem’s BCI uses magic to justify police shooting

GFPD records clerk could not provide ‘Time’ of the 911 call she was transcribing – – -Official narrative regarding police shooting of unarmed man in serious question

Altru shooting 911 records: ‘Second person’ and ‘thousands of pills’ cast doubt upon official narrative of Altru police shooting – – – Did call to police by Wells Fargo cleaning lady interrupt drug activity involving law enforcement?

VISIT WWW.WRITEINTOACTION.COM

Did North Dakota police officer tamper with body-cam shortly before police shooting?

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on April 7, 2016, 11:08 A.M. CST

Body-camera footage from a police officer during a pursuit in North Dakota contains signs the camera lens was purposely covered shortly before an officer shot the unarmed man in the parking lot of an emergency room.

The select footage was originally released to WDAZ TV by the Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) four days after investigative journalist Timothy Charles Holmseth, Write Into Action, set up a Go Fund Me to obtain the video and 911 transcriptions of the event.

Write Into Action has obtained the video WDAZ received that starts five minutes before the shooting and ends one minute after the shooting.

The video begins at approximately 12:42 A.M., February 28, 2015.

The implications of the video of the David James Elliott pursuit and shooting are profound.

Here’s why.

It would eventually become known through an investigation by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) that:

1. Elliott possessed thousands of pills in the truck with him on the night in question
2. Elliott was very angry about being chased by police
3. Elliott arranged to meet with the police officer he’d been talking to on 911 (but was shot before the officer arrived)
4. The UND police officer that shot Elliott:
   1. Was not scheduled to work that night
   2. Was not wearing his regular uniform
   3. Did not have his dash-cam operating
   4. Did not properly use his body-cam (did not capture the shooting on video)
5. No criminal charges were ever brought regarding the thousand of pills found in Elliot’s truck.

While Elliott was alone when he was shot at the conclusion of the second of two pursuits that took place, evidence suggests he may have originally had an unidentified passenger in his vehicle when the initial high-speed chase began at approximately 11 P.M.

for more on the second passenger read – – – Altru shooting 911 records: ‘Second person’ and ‘thousands of pills’ cast doubt upon official narrative of Altru police shooting – Did call to police by Wells Fargo cleaning lady interrupt drug activity involving law enforcement?

There is evidence to suggest the passenger got out of the vehicle at some point after police terminated the first pursuit, due to Elliott’s calling 911 during the chase and telling the police to back off or he would run his vehicle into a bridge.

Facts and circumstances of the entire event suggest Elliott personally knew specific law enforcement officers involved in the pursuit(s) and shooting, including:

1. ND State Trooper Matthew Peschong
2. GFSO Sgt. Any Schneider
3. UND police officer Jerad Braaten

Facts and circumstances indicate Elliott was aware specific officers intended to kill him and he was trying to avoid close contact with those officers until he could meet with GFPD officer Matt Bullinger.

Documents and records reveal subtle clues that what was occurring was personal. For instance, in the BCI interview of Trooper Peschong it says:

“ELLIOTT saw Trooper Peschong pointing his weapon at him and said, “Come on shoot me mother fucker. You’re too big of a pussy to do it. Let’s end this now.” Trooper Peschong also remembered ELLIOTT point at ELLIOTT’s neck and tell Peschong, “Right here, shoot me mother fucker,” the BCI report said.

However, all verbal exchanges between Elliott and law enforcement were redacted so only select quotes are available to the public through the BCI records.

It is also very significant that Peschong and deputies had been ‘following’ Elliott down I-29 in a rural area without emergency lights activated. The activation of emergency lights automatically turns on a police dash cam.

After pulling away from approaching police that were pointing guns at him, Elliott then says something very interesting.

“DAVID ELLIOTT told Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger that he had ran over the spike strips and his tires were going flat. Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger said that DAVID ELLIOTT was upset that his tires were flattened, and told Grand Forks Police Department Officer Matt Bullinger what the tires were worth,” the BCI report said.

Would a suicidal man be worried about the cost of his tires? Elliott’s expression to Bullinger about the tires indicates a relationship or familiarity between them.

Documents and records of the event indicate that at approximately 12:42 A.M. on February 28, 2015, Elliott was sitting atop the Columbia Road Bridge in Grand Forks; he was attempting to wait for Bullinger to arrive.

However, officers were approaching Elliott and pointed their guns at him, which caused him to again proceed forward. There are indications Elliott believed he was going to be killed.

THE VIDEO

The editor of the video allowed a split-second view of David Elliott to be seen at the very beginning of the video to establish the time, circumstances, and location of the video.

After the quick blip of crystal clear quality video showing Elliot sitting in his pick-up and talking to police through his window, the editor redacted everything for two minutes and forty-eight seconds; thus concealing absolutely everything that what was being said.

At the time of the video clip, Elliott is on the PSAP call that he initiated to 911 shortly after the GFPD began pursuing him at around 11 P.M.

When the video resumes from the redacted mode at 2:48, the digital perfect quality picture is no longer visible. It is replaced with darkness although audio can still be heard.  It appears the officer may have placed the video camera underneath his coat.

At 6:40 in the video file the dispatcher can be heard saying “six twenty-seven is on his way”.

BCI records suggest 627 is GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger who had been talking to Elliott over PSAP for over an hour about something.

The radio transmissions that follow indicate officers knew they needed to shoot Elliott before Bullinger arrived.

At 4:46 the dispatcher tells an officer over the radio, “He is willing to talk to 627 in person – he said to give him a little time to get over that.”

The reference to Elliott needing to time to “get over that” may be a reference to something that has taken place that has Elliott angry and/or scared.

The officer responds, “He needs to pull into Altru if that’s going to happen”.

At 6:38 on the video the dispatcher says, “Six twenty seven is on his way”.

At 6:46 on the video an officer on the radio can be heard saying “Is anybody talking to him?” The dispatcher replies and says, “10-4 we still have him on the phone but he requested to speak to six twenty seven in person – he’s the only one he’ll talk to.”

The man on the radio then says, “I understand that [inaudible] stop.”

At 7:48 a flurry of gunshots can be heard and the officer with the body cam says, “Shots fired! Shot’s Fired!”

For a split second the officer’s coat appears to open and video is seen for a second, which proves the camera works properly.

The officer wearing the body-cam is heard screaming “Get your hand’s up! Get em’ up! Get your hands up! Get your hands up!” as another officer says “going to tazer”.

The officer then resumes screaming “Get your hands up now! You’re going to get tazed if you don’t get your hands where we can see them! Get em’ up!”

The officers then declare they are ‘going to tazer’ and another officer is heard saying “stop resisting – stop resisting.”

The officer then says “put your hands behind your back. Do it now!”

It is not known what was driving the nearly maniacal screaming of commands by the officers to Elliott, who had just been shot six times, including three times in the head.

Elliott was unarmed.

No released video shows the actual shooting.

Police would not provide the media any information about the shooting for three days in what may have been a waiting game to see if Elliott would die.

Elliott did not die and the State eventually reached a plea with him. Elliott, who had no prior criminal history, pled guilty to two felony counts surrounding his dangerous and reckless driving.

He was sentenced to one year in jail; sentence suspended with two months home monitoring.

He claims he can’t remember the event.

Write Into Action continues to investigate.

VISIT WWW.WRITEINTOACTION.COM