Police Officers Slashed Car Tires During Minneapolis Protests, Police Agencies Say

One was a rental car.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."While protesters had initially planned to use the area as a makeshift medical center, many of the disabled cars belonged to journalists. A car of a Star Tribune reporter was among those targeted. The lot also held at least four CNN vehicles, Kimmel said, citing a tow truck driver with whom he spoke the next day.

Staff from Radio Canada and The New Yorker also found their tires had been cut.

In addition to the Minnesota State Patrol, the Anoka County Sheriff's Office said its officers deflated tires, citing orders from a state command center that is coordinating more than a dozen police agencies in Minneapolis.

But in a statement to NPR, the sheriff's office said its personnel weren't involved in the activity at the Kmart. The office said its employees were involved in disabling two vehicles on May 31 that it said were "illegally abandoned" on a bridge passing over Interstate 35 west.

"This procedure was done in order to preserve order, life, and safety of both the [protesters] and law enforcement," the sheriff's office said.

In its initial report about the May 30 incident at the Kmart, the Minnesota Multi-Agency Command Center said thousands of state and local police officers as well as the state National Guard had "changed tactics and strategies to take a different approach" to keeping the peace during the unrest.

The command center's report described how police forces were prepositioned near likely trouble spots. It did not mention the tactic of disabling vehicles."

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"””State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tires to keep vehicles from being used in attacks, and so we could tow the vehicles later for collection of evidence if necessary," Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman Bruce Gordon said in a statement to NPR.””” As a defensive measure that was a good idea! They s/b commended for taking positive action!