then it becomes evident that police are the problem.
Especially when it’s a single officer named in several of these lawsuits.
That’s the case of Minneapolis Police Sergeant Tyrone Barze who has been sued repeatedly for excessive force, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.
The latest settlement was [__announced Monday__](http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-148941.pdf), more than a year after he decided to punch a doctoral student for recording him on the job, costing the city $82,000.
The incident took place on June 1, 2014 as the student, Madelyn Milton, was catching a cab home after a night out with friends, according to the [__Star Tribune__](http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-pays-82-000-in-case-of-maple-grove-woman-allegedly-punched-by-officer/328687241/)
A dispute broke out with the cab driver regarding the fare, and police were called to deescalate the situation.
Instead, police only escalated the situation.
Barze ordered the group to pay the fare price, but they continued to disagree with the fare.
As several people began to video record Barze, he began confiscating their phones. That was when Milton moved forward in protest.
Braze didn’t like Milton’s show of aggression and hit her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Milton was knocked unconscious, and suffered a slew of serious neurological injuries; several staples had to be put in her head to close the gash.
Finding Braze’s actions to be excessive, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay Milton $82,000.
As mentioned, this is not the first time the city has footed the bill for Braze’s reckless actions.
Recently, the [__city paid $140,000__](http://www.citypages.com/news/minneapolis-paying-dontae-thomas-25k-and-his-lawyers-115k-to-settle-cop-chokehold-suit-6563764) to Dontae Thomas, a high school student who was put in the infamous and illegal choke-hold by Barze until Thomas passed out. Barze also pepper sprayed a general manager of a bar, in which the city paid $34,000 to the manager.
It appears that Officer Barze is not only reckless with his sworn job, but also a expensive liability to keep up with.
The Minneapolis Police Department continues to make excuses as to why it can’t comment on all the lawsuits their trophy cop has racked up on the city.
Lt. Bob Kroll who is the President of The Minneapolis Police Union said that Barze is an excellent officer. Lt. Kroll went on to say, “When you’re a hardworking cop, these are the kinds of situations you get in, and just because you get sued doesn’t mean you did anything wrong.”
When hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits are filed because of one officers actions– that means the officer is not only doing something wrong, but also on a crash course path to lethal force. Barze was laid off a few years ago because of budget cuts, eventually he was given his job back when the city’s fiscal level rose.
Here you can see the video of Barze making a ridiculous arrest on an activist inside a store after she questioned him about an earlier incident where he threatened to shoot activists outside the store petitioning for signatures to restore the voting rights of felons.
