COUNTDOWN: THE YEAR’S MAJOR WINONA NEWS
No. 19. War machine deployment
Police deployed an armored vehicle to the Maplewood public housing area in response to fight in which a gun had been fired and a man tried hiding. A SWAT team closed in. Everybody could hear loudspeaker calls for the man to surrender. It was Police Chief Paul Bostrack who sent in the county’s military-surplus war machine — a MRAP, Army-ese for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle. The decision set off online protests tyat Bostrack had overreacted, that the MRAP’s presence needlessly scared Maplewood residents. Indeed, the suspect surrendered without resistance. Bostrack defended his decision as “successful de-escalation.”
Scary. MRAP war machine.
Scroll down to No. 20: Smooth election