Is there a psychopath working on the Grand Forks Police Department?
Severed human fingers found at Minnesota campground are in fact connected to police shooting case
by Timothy Charles Holmseth on November 5, 2016, 11:03 A.M. CST
Is there a psychopath working as a police officer in Grand Forks, North Dakota?
There is news to report in the case of the two severed human fingers found on a picnic table at Red River Valley Campground in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.
Police records show a Grand Forks police officer could be the person that obtained the two fingers for public placement at the campground.
BACKGROUND
On May 26, 2016 a family staying at the campground in East Grand Forks contacted the police after finding two human fingers sitting on a picnic table.
The identity of the fingers’ human origin became a mystery that would need to be solved by the Minnesota BCA crime lab using DNA.
In June, 2016, Write Into Action initiated an independent journalistic investigation into the case involving the two fingers at the campground. The investigation would run parallel to Write Into Action’s existing investigation into a police shooting of an unarmed man in Grand Forks where the victim had two fingers blown off.
On August 25, 2016 the East Grand Forks Police Department issued a news release stating the fingers found in the campground matched a 23 year-old male that suffered great bodily injury in a fireworks accident that occurred in Grand Forks, North Dakota on April 30, 2016.
The remaining mystery surrounding the fingers was the question of how the human body parts made their way to the picnic table across the Red River at a campground.
Write Into Action is now reporting the two fingers found at the campground are in fact connected to the police shooting case.
The connection is Grand Forks Police officer Jerad Braaten.
On February 28, 2015, UND police officer Jerad Braaten emptied his clip into David James Elliott in the parking lot of Altru Hospital.
Elliott was holding his cell phone to his ear at the time of the shooting because he was talking to an officer over 911. Elliott knew he was going to be shot and arranged via 911 to personally meet GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger in front of the Altru Emergency Room. Before Bullinger could reach the scene, Braaten approached Elliott with his gun drawn, forcing Elliott to attempt to flee on four flat tires. Two of Elliott’s fingers were blown off because Braaten unloaded into Elliott’s head.
Write Into Action obtained Braaten’s body-cam from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Although it captured no useful video because Braaten deliberately situated it wrong on his shirt, the audio captured Braaten and a female UND police intern cynically plotting against Elliott.
Braaten was reprimanded in writing by UND Police Chief Eric Plummer for actions he took regarding his police cams (his dash cam disappeared and his body-cam was found hidden underneath his squad car).
Within a year, Braaten was inexplicably hired onto the Grand Forks Police Department by Chief Mark Nelson.
In June, 2016, during Write Into Action’s investigation into the police shooting, Nelson issued a ‘Special Order’ that changed the GFPD’s retention dates for police-cam evidence of the shooting so it could all be destroyed.
Write Into Action is now reporting Jerad Braaten was at the scene of the April 30, 2016 fireworks accident.
Police records show Braaten filed a police report at the scene.
Braaten had access to the fingers that disappeared until they surfaced on May 26, 2016 in a campground.
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