Brooklyn Park City Council Meeting Disrupted by Seating Change Refusal
There were accusations of levied against Brooklyn Park‘s police chief in a chaotic start to Brooklyn Park’s Oct. 28 city council meeting.
It came weeks after the council requested one their own members — Maria Tran — seek a mental health evaluation.
A request for Tran to change seats resulted in disruptions that nearly ended the meeting early.
Tran refused to honor the council’s seating arrangements, prompting rebuke from fellow members.
“We’re not going to pick someone up like a child and move her around,” Mayor Hollies Winston said. “That’s against the rules and I don’t think we want to stoop to that particular level.”
Safety Concerns For Seating, Tran
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley told the council in October that Tran applied for a handgun permit to protect herself from other council members.
Tran allegedly believes there’s a conspiracy to have her killed at city hall.
Bruley told the council he’s never seen any evidence that would bring a reasonable person to believe Tran was in danger.
Citing the incident and other unfounded accusations against council members and city staff, the council sent a letter to Tran urging her to seek a mental health evaluation.
The majority of the council, fearing for their safety, also came to a consensus to rearrange the council’s seating assignments. That is, they agreed to move Tran to the seat farthest from the door, giving the rest of the members a path to exit if violence breaks out.
Tran called the concern “unfounded” and “unreasonable.”
Brooklyn Park City Council Member Maria Tran refused to honor the council’s amended seating chart on Oct. 28. She also accused Police Chief Mark Bruley of lying.
Tran Accusations and Disorder
The relatively simple procedure to change the council’s seating chart was marred by crosstalk as Tran tried to speak without being recognized.
Winston put the meeting into recess twice amidst the disorder.
The council spent more than 20 minutes approving a change to the seating chart.
In the process, Tran accused the police chief of lying.
“He just make up the story that I bring the gun into, you know, because council member intimidate me,” she said. “He make up that story.”
She said Bruley, who tried to visit her at her home to discuss her gun permit application, scared her “to death.”
“Chief Bruley violated my Second Amendment [rights] because he’s banging my door in the morning,” she said. “I don’t feel safe after that.”
Tran said she plans to report Bruley’s actions as misconduct to the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training.
Her comments were cut short as members twice called for a point of order.
Winston told her she was violating the council’s code of conduct, while Council Member XP Lee moved to end the discussion amid crosstalk.
“He has no right to do that,” Tran said. “And if I am the council member, [if] I feel unsafe like that, how is resident represented?”
Winston called for a vote on the seating change, which passed in a 5-2 vote with Tran and Council Member Boyd Morson dissenting.
Tran Refuses to Move
Ultimately, Tran ignored the council’s vote and refused to change seats during a recess.
“I don’t go anywhere,” she said. “The ones that intimidate me, now make me become the intimidator.”
The council considered ending the meeting early, but the vote to adjourn failed.
