Rolette County police shooting occurs one day after Grand Forks States Attorney asked to turn over cam evidence from separate police shooting
by Timothy Charles Holmseth on January 19, 2017, 3:06 P.M. CST
The body-count in North Dakota continues to rise.
Today, Rolette County Sheriff Gerald Medrud announced Colt Eugene Allery, a deputy sheriff, was fatally shot and two other deputies are on paid administrative leave after a vehicle chase turned deadly Wednesday.
Yesterday, Write Into Action contacted the Grand Forks County States Attorney’s Office requesting police video evidence from the David James Elliott police shooting case.
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From: Timothy Charles Holmseth [mailto:tholmseth@wiktel.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 1:00 PM
To: ‘haley.wamstad@gfcounty.org’
Subject: Attn: Haley Wamstad
Timothy Charles Holmseth
320 17th Street N.W.
Unit# 17
East Grand Forks, MN
56721
218.773.1299
218.230.1597 (cell)
http://www.writeintoaction.com
tholmseth@wiktel.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009187154735
In Re: Public Records
January 18, 2017
Haley Wamstad
Assistant Grand Forks County States Attorney
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Attorney [Wamstad],
I am requesting all of the police body-cam and dash-cam related to the 18-2015-CR-00632 (State of North Dakota vs. David James Elliott).
I am contacting your office because the records are digital data and was referred to you by the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office.
Respectfully,
Timothy Charles Holmseth
Investigative Journalist/Author/Publisher
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Wednesday’s police shooting also comes in the direct wake of Write Into Action’s expositive report that former Walsh County Sheriff Lauren Wild was allegedly involved in the pursuit of David James Elliott in 2015.
Elliott was deadly afraid of Wild and thought he was going to be harmed. However, Wild was retired at the time of the Elliott pursuit and would have no business being involved in a midnight pursuit, which ended in Elliott being shot.
BCI investigators found “thousands of pills” in Elliott’s truck. David Elliott’s wife, Jennifer Elliott, told BCI investigators the pills were all coming from Altru Hospital doctors.
Write Into Action has obtained dash-cam video from a Grand Forks County Sheriff’s vehicle that shows the shooting of David Elliott did not happen the way it was reported.
The shooting of David Elliott appears to have been a planned hit being carried out by rookie UND police officer Jerad Braaten.
Grand Forks County States Attorney David Jones, without a doubt, completely lied to the public about the David Elliott shooting when he deemed it justified.
CAITLIN JENNA ERICKSON HOMICIDE
Write Into Action obtained video of police-cam evidence regarding the death of Caitlin Jenna Erickson, who died at the same time the David Elliott was occurring. Erickson’s next door neighbor, Desiree Gomez, heard Erickson and Mario Parsons (the man she was with) shouting and arguing for about a half an hour amidst banging sounds in the bathroom.
Parson told police everything was fine when he left and when he returned Erickson was dead. Write Into Action believes the GFPD has engaged in a deliberate cover-up of Erickson’s death.
PEMBINA COUNTY SHOOTING
Write Into Action interviewed the only witness to the shooting scene of Clifford Edward Monteith III, who was shot by Pembina County Deputy Brad Bowman. Sara Letexier said she saw pulled up on the scene and saw Monteith lying on the highway although he was supposedly miles away at that point. She said she then heard another gunshot.
Visit WWW.WRITEINTOACTION.COM or FOCUS ONN THE FORKS ON FACEBOOK for full reports on these and other stories.
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The David James Elliott pursuit and shooting
- David James Elliott telephoned Grand Forks PSAP (911) almost immediately after GFPD Dan Harvala attempted to pull him over for running a red light. David Elliott had no meaningful criminal history and there is no known reason he would feel compelled to flee at very high speeds. He stayed on 911 with a police officer, GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger, for some two hours until he was shot while holding the phone.
- David Elliott made arrangements to meet GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger at Altru. After arriving in front of the E/R David Elliott is seen pointing in the direction where UND officer Jerad Braaten is approaching him. He fled again on four flat tires and was shot through his back window by Jerad Braaten.
- David Elliott was unarmed.
- David Elliott had thousands of prescription pills in his truck that BCI agent Michael Ness said where in “bags”.
- Jennifer Elliott, David Elliott’s wife, said all the pills her husband possessed were all coming from Altru doctors.
- Grand Forks PSAP deleted the 911 call.
- UND police officer Jerad Braaten was not scheduled to work on the night he interjected himself into a slow speed pursuit and shot David Elliott.
- UND police officer Jerad Braaten, a rookie cop on his first job, was inexplicably training an intern (on a night he was not even supposed to work), Heather Hopkins, on the night of the shooting.
- David Elliott was nearly completely stopped atop the Columbia Road Bridge where he was trying to meet GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger. He continued inching forward as Jerad Braaten was pointing a gun at him.
- The audio portion of UND police officer Jerad Braaten’s body-cam captured him telling Hopkins he hoped to provoke David Elliott into ramming him.
- David James Elliott told Write Into Action (Timothy Charles Holmseth) that Jerad Braaten attempted to shoot him minutes before the actual shooting, while atop the Columbia Road Bridge, but his gun jammed.
- The audio portion of Jerad Braaten’s body-cam reveals a clicking sound on Braaten’s gun that sounds like a misfire atop the Columbia Road Bridge.
- Jerad Braaten’s dash-cam was never found and/or entered into BCI evidence.
- Jerad Braaten’s body-cam was found underneath his squad car where he tried to hide it.
- Jerad Braaten did not put his body-cam on his shirt until a few minutes before he joined the pursuit and shot David Elliott (although he had supposedly been on-duty for hours).
- Jerad Braaten had UNDPD intern Heather Hopkins put the body-cam on his shirt, which was placed on him improperly and captured no visual (except the moment it’s thrown under the car).
- After the shooting, the audio portion of Jerad Braaten’s body-cam reveals he asked Heather Hopkins if she saw David Elliott try to run a police officer over. Hopkins promptly replied yes. Braaten then told her he would need a witness statement confirming it and she said she would give it. However, when Hopkins was interviewed by the BCI she balked, and said she didn’t see what happened.
- GFPD Sgt. Mark Ellingson, the officer that Jerad Braaten said he was worried about, is captured on audio at the scene telling Jerad Braaten he was never in any danger.
- UNDPD chief Eric Plummer reprimanded Jerad Braaten in writing regarding issues with his police-cams.
- GFPD chief Mark Nelson subsequently hired Jerad Braaten onto his Department.
- Videos obtained by Write Into Action have been tampered with by someone using a video editor. For instance – dash-cam from the squad car of GFPD officer Dan Harvala is in clear crisp color on most of the footage. However, the portion that actually shows the shooting in the distance has been converted to black and white which obscures the details.
- Video showing what happened atop the Columbia Road Bridge has been redacted.
- Videos obtained by Write Into Action reveal the time-stamps on the dash-cams do not even remotely match the events taking place on the officer body-cams.
- David Elliot was shot three times in the head and his ear drum was blown out. Two of his fingers were shot off but re-attached.
- After being hired by the GFPD, Jerad Braaten was at the scene of a fireworks accident in Grand Forks where a man’s fingers were blown off. The fingers disappeared. They were found later on a picnic table in East Grand Forks.
The following is my investigative opinion.
- It is my investigative opinion that Jerad Braaten sounds like a psychopath when he is talking to Heather Hopkins.
- It is my opinion Jerad Braaten may have taken the fingers from the fireworks scene and kept them. He may have placed them in the Red River Valley Campground as a trophy of what he did to David Elliott and/or an ominous message to the drug trafficking underworld.
- It is my opinion GFPD chief Mark Nelson has violated his oath, betrayed the public, and is engaging in extensive efforts to cover up events that involve drug trafficking, shootings, and homicide(s).
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