The Minnesota State Fair assistant police chief said in a whistleblower lawsuit that Ramsey County Sheriff Robert Fletcher threatened to withhold resources from the fair unless the assistant chief was fired.
Michael Coffey, who is also a sergeant with the Cottage Grove police, filed a complaint under the Whistleblowers Act last week seeking reinstatement and damages against Fletcher and the State Agricultural Society, which governs the fair.
In the complaint, Coffey claimed Fletcher demanded Coffey be terminated after the Cottage Grove officer informed officials, including State Fair Police Chief Ron Knafla and the FBI, that Fletcher and Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies illegally used excessive force and chemical munitions on bystanders during the 2025 state fair. At least one of those cases was caught on video, Coffey said.
Coffey said in the lawsuit he received a video on Aug. 31, the second-to-last day of the fair, of a young man on the ground with “multiple officers on top of him and Sheriff Fletcher deploying a canister of chemical munitions to the face of the restrained man before pointing the canister at a surrounding crowd.”
Fletcher told a commander whom Coffey worked with that he had not deployed any chemical munitions, according to the filing.
Fletcher did not respond to an MPR News inquiry about whether he used chemical munitions on bystanders.
Ben Bauer, Coffey’s attorney, said Coffey is being punished for trying to do what is right.
“He reported what he...
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