UNDPD officer lied during investigation of police shooting
by Timothy Charles Holmseth on October 4, 2016, 10:50 P.M. CST
The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) has finally turned over a partial audio recording of their interview with a police intern who was present and witnessed a police shooting in Grand Forks.
The audio was provided to Write Into Action.
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s office made redactions attributed to NDCC 44-04-18.7 – a statute that invokes confidentiality based upon “criminal intelligence” associated with “active criminal investigative information”. Criminal intelligence information and criminal investigative information – Nondisclosure – Record of information maintained. 1. Active criminal intelligence information and active criminal investigative information are not subject to section 44-04-18 and section 6 of article XI of the Constitution of North Dakota.
Write Into Action’s independent investigation has now discovered UNDPD officer Heather Hopkins lied to BCI investigators about the most critical fact surrounding the shooting of David James Elliott.
Immediately after the shooting in the early morning hours of February 28, 2015, Hopkins and Braaten were captured on audio from a body cam that is still recording, which Write Into Action obtained.
This exchange takes place:
Heather Hopkins: “Are all the officers gone?”
Jerad Braaten: “Yep, did you see him when he was trying to run him over?”
Heather Hopkins: “Yep”
Jerad Braaten: “I’m going to need you to file a witness”
Heather Hopkins: “Okay”
But – that’s not what Hopkins told the BCI a short time later.
Interviewing Officer: “So when the vehicle accelerates could you see the officer get spun out of the vehicle? Did he almost get run over?”
Heather Hopkins: “I couldn’t tell”
The BCI possessed Braaten’s body-cam, which was found hidden under Braaten’s squad car, so the BCI and States Attorney David Jones knew exactly what was said.
The Special Agent asked Hopkins if she talked to Braaten after the shooting.
BCI Agent: “At any point does Officer Braaten come back into the UNDPD vehicle? To talk you or anything?”
Heather Hopkins: “Yes, after the ambulance came and they took the driver on a gurney inside he came back into the car – and sat down inside the car.”
BCI Agent: “Did he say anything?”
Heather Hopkins: “He did say something to me. I honestly can’t remember what he said. I want to say he just asked me if I was okay. But, I don’t remember what he asked me. I know I asked if he was okay he said ‘yep’.”
Perhaps the BCI or States Attorney Jones should have reminded Hopkins that she claimed to have seen Elliott almost run over a police officer and that she ambitiously agreed to sign a sworn statement swearing to it.
The David Jones Elliott shooting was an attempted murder by a hit man working for the University of North Dakota Police Department in conjunction with officers from other agencies including the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Forks Police Department.
by Timothy Charles Holmseth on August 17, 2016, 5:25 P.M. CST
The United States Border Patrol is named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed in United States District Court in North Dakota today.
On August 17, 2016, Timothy Charles Holmseth filed aComplaintto the United States District Court – District of North Dakota, against multiple agencies in North Dakota. Holmseth filed the Complaint after receiving paperwork from the North Dakota Court that provided instructions and forms regarding a previous correspondence to the Court pertaining to a lawsuit.
Holmseth, an investigative journalist from East Grand Forks, Minnesota, alleges a multi-agency and multi-jurisdiction conspiracy exists to cover up the true facts and circumstances surrounding the pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott in 2015.
Elliott was unarmed when he was shot by a University of North Dakota police officer on February 28, 2015.
The lawsuit alleges defendants are violating public records laws; have defrauded Holmseth’s publication Write Into Action; and are actively violating Holmseth’s Constitutional rights under the First Amendment.
According to Holmseth’s Complaint, defendants, including Grand Forks Police Chief Mark Nelson, have conspired to destroy police-cam evidence of the Elliott Event, which includes deliberately hiding the fact that the United States Border Patrol was involved.
“The criminal conspiracy involves, but is not limited to, GFPD officer (former UNDPD officer) Jerad Braaten, UNDPD Chief of Police Eric Plummer, GFPD Chief of Police Mark Nelson, Grand Forks County Sheriff Bob Rost, GFPD Lt. Derik Zimmel, UNDPD Sgt. Danny Weigel, Grand Forks States Attorney David Jones,”the Complaint said.
Holmseth alleges Defendant Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) altered police body-cam evidence before turning it over, in effort to hide what truly happened the night a University of North Dakota police officer shot David Elliott multiple times in the head in the Altru hospital parking lot.
Holmseth had been actively requesting and paying for public records regarding the shooting until he was notified by Lt. Derik Zimmel on July 11, 2016, Nelson issued a “Special Order’ on June 26, 2016, changing the retention dates for police cam evidence held in GFPD custody.
Holmseth alleges the Special Order by Nelson was made in bad faith to advance a criminal conspiracy to destroy evidence of an attempted murder.
On July 11, 2016 Lt. Derik Zimmel advised Holmseth he had until July 18, 2016 to make any further requests for records and then the records would be “subject to destruction”.
On July 17, 2016, Holmseth submitted a public records request to the City of Grand Forks that said,“Pursuant to all applicable state and federal laws, I am requesting ALL officer body-camera videos; ALL police dash-cam videos; ALL reports, notes, ledgers, transcripts, and other records pertaining to the pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott.”
On July 28, 2016 Holmseth received a letter from Grand Forks City Attorney Howard Swanson advising that no more records would be turned over because they were now deemed legal Discovery.
Holmseth alleges the Elliott shooting was actually a pre-mediated murder and possibly an ordered ‘hit’ that involved drug trafficking through the State of North Dakota.
North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) records show the BCI seized “thousands” of pills from Elliott’s vehicle following the bizarre two hour slow speed chase through multiple counties that was all captured on a 107 minute 911 call placed by Elliott – but never heard by the public. Elliott was talking to a GFPD officer during the 911 call.
Holmseth is the only publisher to request any portion of the 107 minute 911 call, which cost over a hundred dollars in fees for just a few minutes of the call.
David James Elliott contacted Holmseth and said law enforcement hid and/or destroyed body-cam evidence that showed police officer Jerad Braaten attempted to shoot him while he was sitting atop the Columbia Road Bridge in Grand Forks.
“What they don’t tell you is that the officer that shot me tried to shoot me at the top of the university bridge were I stopped and was hanging half way out the window with my hands straight out but his gun misfired – so he pulled his gun back on top to dislodge the bullet and they found that bullet there on top of the bridge with nobody taking claim to it until they pulled his finger prints off of the damn thing,” Elliott said.
The first attempted shooting of Elliott by Bratten changes exposes the entire false narrative that was subsequently given to the public because it shows Braaten was stalking Elliott to shoot him.
“When [Jerad Braaten] shot me everyone was yelling ‘cease fire’ and nobody even knew who was firing until it was all done – and the cop that supposedly got drug by my vehicle wasn’t ever in danger – let alone near the driver’s window – and the cop that shot me on video said ‘I thought you were in danger’ and he yells ‘I wasn’t in danger at any given time and was upset,” Elliott said.
Elliott told Holmseth police used “Excessive Force” and the Grand Forks States Attorney’s office told his lawyer, Darla Schuman, they were charging him with felonies so he wouldn’t sue.
The excessive force appears to involve more than the unwarranted shooting.
“There is so much to this whole thing that people will never know or even understand. Heck after the first two to the third shot fired, my pickup was stopped and he just kept on shooting me. He fired 14 times total until his gun was empty and 8 hit me – and a total of ten hit my truck – and two hit the Kidney Dialysis Center way off to the right and two hit the E/R hall way way off to the left,” Elliott said.
“I got shot 8 times – not 6 or 7 – and then after I got shot and was laying on the steering wheel knocked out with blood all over the place and my left hand missing two fingers -two other officers from GFPD ran up to the drivers window and freaken tazed my lifeless body not once but twice – and they’re yelling put your hands up quit resisting as they open the drivers door and my body falls out of the truck like a sack of potatoes,” Elliott said.
“That’s the video nobody has seen – and I have it,” Elliott said.
The following are named as defendants:
City of Grand Forks/Grand Forks Police Department, 122 South 5th Street, Grand Forks, North Dakota
University of North Dakota/University of North Dakota Police Department, 300 Twamley Hall, 264 Centennial Drive, Grand Forks North Dakota
Altru Health Systems, 1000 South Columbia Road, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office, 122 South 5th Street, Grand Forks
Grand Forks Public Service Access Point, 122 South 5th Street, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Grand Forks States Attorney, 124 South 4th Street, Grand Forks, North Dakota
North Dakota Highway Patrol, 1100 North 47th Street, STE 200, Grand Forks, North Dakota.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 112 West Stutsman Street, Pembina, North Dakota,
by Timothy Charles Holmseth on July 22, 2016, 10:37 P.M. CST
The Grand Fork Police Department (GFPD) attempted to fool an independent journalist investigating the police shooting of an unarmed man in Grand Forks, North Dakota, by removing critical video images from officer body-cam and replacing it with something else.
Timothy Charles Holmseth, journalist/author/publisher, Write Into Action, has produced a You Tube video showing how the GFPD provided him edited and fraudulent files when responding to public records requests.
Timothy Holmseth has been investigating the police shooting of David James Elliott, and several other cases connected to it, including the mysterious death of Caitlin Jenna Erickson, and the framing of a Somali immigrant, Mohammed Aweis Mohammed.
On June 26, 2016, GFPD police chief Mark Nelson issued a “Special Order” that changed the retention dates of police files, which would create the false appearance that any destruction of the evidence would simply be in keeping with policy.
Timothy Holmseth filed a Motion to the United States District Court – District of Minnesota, requesting an Injunction against multiple agencies including the GFPD, Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office, North Dakota Highway Patrol, University of North Dakota, and Altru Health Systems, that would forbid the destruction of any files related to the case.
On February 28, 2015, Jerad Braaten, a University of North Dakota police officer, unloaded his clip onto David James Elliott, an unarmed man, in the Emergency Room parking lot of Altru Hospital.
The shooting came at the end of a bizarre, two hour long event that involved police following David Elliott up and down I-29 without their emergency lights activated while he remained on the telephone with 911.
Elliott was shot at least three times in the head; multiple times in the body; and relentlessly tazed after being shot (tazed while unconscious) by officers that can be heard yelling “show me your hands” and “stop resisting”.
He miraculously survived.
The shooting was followed by a sinister immediate media blackout that erupted into a all-out battle between regional news stations and law enforcement. Law enforcement refused to tell the public even the most very basic information about the shooting, such as the victim’s name.
Braaten’s decision to shoot Elliott was deemed justified by Grand Forks County States Attorney David Jones after an investigation was completed by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal investigation (BCI).
The GFPD subsequently hired Braaten.
But…
The truth about what really happened, and why there is now a multi-agency conspiracy to hide the truth, is utterly frightening.
During an independent investigation, Timothy Holmseth discovered records from the BCI showed investigators found Braaten’s officer body-cam underneath his UND squad car (hidden). The dash-cam from Braaten’s car was supposedly never seen because he told investigators he did not put the drive into the camera on the night in question.
Braaten was not even scheduled to work on the night in question, but did, and was not wearing his ‘regular uniform’.
Records never viewed by the public until obtained and published by Write Into Action, reveal Braaten was disciplined in writing by UND police chief Eric Plummer regarding his actions regarding his officer cams. That fact was known to the GFPD some months later when they hired him.
The sinister facts surrounding the case, and the tampering with video footage by the GFPD, shows the police are attempting to hide the fact that Braaten actually attempted to shoot David Elliott approximately 10 minutes prior to the actual shooting at a separate location – but his gun jammed.
That makes the entire event a premeditated attempted murder.
According to a person identifying himself as David James Elliott, Braaten attempted to shoot him while he was parked atop the Columbia Road Bridge in Grand Forks with his hands out the window.
The video from the Columbia Road Bridge is the cam footage that appears to be edited out/replaced, or completely redacted by the GFPD.
BCI records show that an un-spent cartridge from Braaten’s firearm was found atop the Columbia Road Bridge.
Elliott told Write Into Action that Braaten lied to investigators about the cartridge until his “fingerprints” were found on it; he then admitted he had discharged a cartridge while ‘press checking’ his weapon.
David Elliott’s initial flight from the police was very odd, and indicates he knew his life was in danger, and he was trying to get to safety.
Elliott, a man with no criminal record, immediately fled at high speeds when a GFPD officer activated his red lights behind his vehicle. Elliott then called 911 and stayed on the telephone for 107 minutes; until the moment he was shot some two hours later.
The pursuit, shooting, and tampering with evidence indicates the entire event was actually connected to a transnational drug trafficking operation that involved Elliott and police officers.
“Thousands” of pills were found in Elliott’s vehicle by investigators but no charges were ever brought.
Elliott told Write Into Action he is receiving death threats.
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