A mental health advocate with a statewide police watchdog group is raising concerns after the same Crookston Police Department officer was involved in two deadly shootings just 45 days apart.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the officer as 31-year-old Nick Fladland, a five-year veteran with the department.
The BCA preliminary report says Fladland was one of three officers called to the Share and Care shelter for a report of 44-year-old Christopher Junkin breaking furniture and other items on June 30.
Fladland, another Crookston police officer, and a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office used tasers and a pepper spray-like chemical to subdue Junkin, but Officer Fladland ultimately shot him after Junkin followed them into a hallway.
On May 16, just six weeks before, Fladland shot and killed Andrew Dale after Dale charged officers with a hatchet.
Deb Lacroix-Kinniry, a mental health advocate with Communities United Against Police Brutality, a statewide police watchdog group, said she was concerned that Polk County isn’t adhering to Travis’ Law. That law requires 911 call centers to deflect mental health crisis calls directly to mental health crisis teams.
Lacroix-Kinniry also questioned whether Fladland should have been equipped with a firearm so shortly after he shot and killed another man last May.
She says it’s possible an experience like that could affect how an officer could respond in another dangerous situation in the future.
“With a situation like that, an officer is going to, in my experience and understanding of PTSD, is going to be much more likely to not have the same way,” Lacroix-Kinniry said.
During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers debated a bill designed to give Travis’ Law more teeth and allow the public to sue officials for violating it. That bill did not pass.
Fladland was placed on critical incident leave. The shooting remains under investigation.
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