Fargo Police Chief finds officer misconduct allegation to be unfounded

FARGO, N.D.–The Fargo Police Department says its investigation was unable to find evidence to support a 19-year-old West Fargo man’s claim that he was detained and illegally searched.

Larry Pope filed a complaint four days after the incident happened on June 22nd.

The department says Sgt. Shane Aberle of the Office of Professional Standards reviewed GPS squad car data, messages between officers and traffic cam footage.

Pope and several coworkers he talked to about the incident were interviewed.

Within Sgt. Aberle’s report, he states that Pope’s timeline about being detained by the officers does not match up.

Sgt. Aberle also says that no officers were dispatched to the area between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., and GPS data refutes Pope’s claim that two squad cars pulled into the parking lot.

Sgt. Aberle, based on his investigation, recommended the inquiry be closed. Fargo Police chief David Todd agreed and determined the inquiry unfounded.

The full investigation report can be found here along with Pope’s written complaint.

Following the investigation report’s release, OneFargo responded with concerns about the handling of the complaint.

The group is concerned Sergeant Aberle is handling compaints against the police department since he was placed on leave after the deadly shooting of 32 year old Justin Dietrich in 2018 during a standoff.

The Cass County Attorney’s Office declined to charge Aberle because they say Dietrich refused to listen to officers’ commands.

OneFargo finished by saying, “The fact that the case has been closed without any real attempts to identify the officers is extremely concerning. It is clear that Fargo PD should no longer be allowed to investigate themselves.”