POLICE: Beatings Were Racially Motivated
KSTP (Minneapolis), Oct. 24, 2006
Dijion Palm, 18, of Robbinsdale, was charged Tuesday by the Minneapolis City Attorney with the misdemeanors. Police have not yet released his photo.
A teen has been charged with two counts of assault with bias after police say he ran around downtown Minneapolis punching people in the head because of their race.
Dijion Palm, 18, of Robbinsdale, was charged Tuesday by the Minneapolis City Attorney with the misdemeanors. The attacks happened Saturday on 7th St. between Nicollet Mall and 1st Ave.
There are four known victims including a sports writer from a Fargo newspaper who was in town to cover the North Dakota State-U of M game.
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Palm is black, and police say he chose his victims because they were white.
“The suspect did this deliberately, he chose his victims, he has his own motivations,” said Lt. Greg Reinhartdt of the Minneapolis Police Department.
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All of the attacks happened within view of the city’s Safe Zone cameras. Tonight, police are reviewing anything that may have been caught on tape. Police have not yet released the photo of Palm, pending further investigation.
