[STARTRIBUNE] St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell on Friday defended one of his sergeants against accusations of racial profiling made by a Minnesota state politician ticketed during a traffic stop last weekend.Rep. John Thompson, DFL-St. Paul, was cited July 4 for driving while under suspension after police say he was pulled over for not having a front license plate. Days later at a rally in St. Paul, Thompson described the encounter as an example of being profiled by police because of his race.
"I thought we weren't doing pretextual stops in this state, but we are," Thompson said Tuesday outside the governor's residence at an event marking five years since his friend Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer in Falcon Heights. "We're still getting 'driving-while-Black' tickets here in this state — as a matter of fact, in St. Paul. So let's just call it what it is."