Last June, Martin Treptow shot Landen Beard.<\/p>\n
Beard – an undercover Robbinsdale cop – was alleged (by Treptow and eyewitnesses) to have been in a road-raging snit.<\/p>\n
The rest of the story is very much in contention, although according to witnesses it seems to have gone a little something like this:<\/p>\n
It apparently took six months to introduce doubt into the case; the Anoka County grand jury yesterday indicted Martin Treptow. Joel Rosenberg has the whole, depressing story<\/a>:<\/p>\n Well, the book has been thrown at Martin S. Treptow. He’s been charged in Anoka County, with:<\/font><\/p>\n 1. Drive by shooting. MS 609.66 subd 1e(b) — felony, up to ten years.<\/font><\/p>\n 2. Reckless discharge in municipality sub 1a(3) — ditto, up to two years.<\/font><\/p>\n 3. Terrorist threats. 609.713 sub (1) — ditto.<\/font><\/p>\n We’ll see what the next step in the railroading of Treptow and the whitewashing of Beard is tomorrow, when Landen Beard appears in Anoka County Court to have his wrist slapped. <\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Given the recent revelations that the “investigators” in the case have gone to the Saint Paul PD to dig up dirt about…not Martin, but Rebecca <\/em>Treptow, it looks to the casual observer like the Anoka County “justice” system is covering the backs of their Robbinsdale PD colleagues.<\/p>\n Beard’s indictment is scheduled for today. We’ll see what happens.<\/p>\n Remember – the jury has the final word on this case. This is far from over.<\/p>\n Or it should be.\u00a0 Martin Treptow isn’t loaded – not even close.\u00a0 And this case could embarass the hell <\/em>out of the Robbinsdale PD and, given its behavior for the past six months, Anoka as well.\u00a0 My two cents:\u00a0 Anoka County is throwing the book at Treptow, dredging up the worst possible assortment of felonies (and absurd ones, at that), to try to induce him to take a plea bargain rather than spend his family’s entire future defending himself against the combined weight of every law enforcement agency in the Metro.\u00a0 If Treptow takes the plea, then the story of Officer Landen Beard, and all of the questions his behavior that day introduce into the story, disappear.\u00a0<\/p>\n And those questions are big, nasty ones, if you believe in running a police department with a reputation for integrity:\u00a0<\/p>\n My hunch – and that’s all <\/em>it is – is that the various jurisdictions involved know <\/em>that the answers aren’t pretty, and want to do whatever they can to shut Treptow up and get the answers sealed in a court file, never to surface during the careers of anyone in office today.<\/p>\n Again, just a hunch.<\/p>\n If you’d like to help…:<\/p>\n Martin and Rebecca Treptow UPDATE:\u00a0 Joel isn’t the only local blog covering things.\u00a0 Doug at Northern Muckraker – one of the most-improved blogs in the area – has been writing about the Treptow case<\/a>:<\/p>\n Remember how I had previously written <\/font><\/strong><\/a>about Fox9 News’s coverage, and how they conveniently forgot to mention Beard’s name in their coverage of the story while putting Treptow’s name and face all over their airwaves, and how they also neglected to disclose their little conflict of interest, as Beard was the fiance (and now, apparently, the spouse) of one of their employees? The games continue, apparently.<\/p>\n Watch this clip<\/font><\/strong><\/a> of the update report Fox9 did this evening on the story. Notice how they have lots of video shots of Treptow, and how they manage to show a slow pan of the page of the indictment showing his name and full address,<\/em><\/strong> not once, but twice<\/strong><\/em>, in the report. No “1600 block of Pennsylania Avenue” courtesy for Mr. Treptow, as that is usually how addresses of presumed innocent people<\/strong><\/em> are reported.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\nAnoka Hennepin Credit Union,
\n3505 Northdale Blvd. N.W.
\nCoon Rapids, MN 55448.<\/p>\n