Cops Apprehend Man, Then Call Him 'Little Nigger' Before Executing Him in Cold Blood — Says Lawsuit (Video)

Terrance Franklin

By Aaron Rupar
A wrongful death lawsuit pertaining to the officer-involved shooting of Terrance Franklin on May 9 of last year alleges that racist cops executed Franklin, then engaged in a campaign intended to cover up their wrongdoing by publicly demonizing him.

The lawsuit, which is expected to be filed today, doesn't present much hard evidence to back up its explosive claims. Front and center to its case is the so-called "Gaines Video," a one-minute clip shot by someone standing across from the street from the south Minneapolis basement where Franklin was holed up as cops stormed the house.

Mike Padden, the attorney representing Franklin's family, claims the video shows an officer calling Franklin a "Damn freakin' [N-word]," among other slurs. When the video was first trumpeted by Padden a few weeks after Franklin's death, Minneapolis Police Department Chief Janeé Harteau characterized the allegation officers used the N-word as "not only preposterous but without merit" and demanded an apology.

Here's the lawsuit's account of the circumstances surrounding Franklin's death:

During the time of the MPD SWAT team's interaction with [Franklin]... an MPD SWAT member, believed to be Defendant Lucas Peterson, called Franklin "little nigger" in the moments before Peterson and another SWAT member killed Franklin. Franklin presented no threat to the SWAT team since he had been successfully apprehended, clearly had surrendered, had both of his hands in the air at the moment he was killed in a surrender position, and was unarmed, but was killed, nonetheless, in an execution-type fashion due to anger, excessive force, and militarization.

Read More