Kendall Qualls Calls on Rep. Thompson to Release Video After Controversial Encounter with St. Paul Police

MINNEAPOLIS – Sunday evening it was reported that State Representative John Thompson involved himself in a traffic stop, escalating a situation between St. Paul police and his adult daughter. Republican gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls issued the following statement joining with St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell and MPPOA in their efforts to call on Rep. Thompson to release body camera footage from the encounter. 

Statement from Kendall Qualls: 
“Today I call on Rep. Thompson to release body camera footage from the incident on Sunday with St. Paul police officers. As leaders of color, we have a duty to stop vilifying police relations and using claims of racism to perpetuate progressives’ agenda that all cops have malicious intent and are racists.

Shame on Thompson for brandishing his status as an elected official to interfere in a traffic stop incident between St. Paul police officers and his adult daughter, especially since there was reasonable cause to believe she was driving while under the influence of marijuana. Using claims of racism to personally benefit from being held accountable for breaking the law only further hinders progress between police and community members, and will not be tolerated when I am elected Governor. I commend the St. Paul Police officers involved for performing their duties to keep impaired drivers off of the road and for not further escalating the situation in the moment.”