Minnesota State Patrol Purged Emails, Texts After George Floyd Protests

“The purge was neither accidental, automated, nor routine,” ACLU attorneys said of the deletions.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota State Patrol purged emails and text messages immediately after protests over the death of George Floyd last year, according to testimony in a lawsuit that alleges the agency targeted journalists during the unrest. During a July 28 hearing, State Patrol Maj. Joseph Dwyer testified that he and a “vast majority of the agency” deleted the messages after the protests and riots, according to a transcript published Friday on the court’s docket. Attorneys for the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the file destruction makes it nearly impossible to track the State Patrol’s behavior, as courts and investigators are trying to determine whether law enforcement used improper force against demonstrators.