BLAINE, Minn. — A Blaine city council member is now facing several misdemeanors after he allegedly threatened a police officer's job after they arrested his son, court documents say.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Anoka County, 52-year-old Richard Aluma Paul, the councilmember for Ward 3 in Blaine, was charged with misconduct of a public officer or employee and code of ethics - standard of conduct, stemming from an incident that happened on the night of Nov. 3, 2021. Both charges are misdemeanors.
The criminal complaint alleged that on the night of Nov. 3, 2021, officers from the Blaine Police Department stopped a man riding a bike at night without a headlamp, rear lamp or any reflective equipment. Once officers stopped the man and told him the reason for the stop, the man told officers that his name was Joseph Richard.
When officers checked his name, they found an active warrant for theft out of Anoka County. The complaint goes on to say that while he was being searched, Joseph Richard told officers that his dad was a city council member for the town. He then called his dad, Richard Paul, to see if he could pick up his bike so it wouldn't have to be impounded.
During the phone call, Joseph Richard told officers that his dad wanted to talk to them, according to the criminal complaint. While on the phone with officers, Richard's dad told officers that he was Richard Paul and told officers to bring his son home and drop him off.
The responding officer then explained that Richard had a warrant out for his arrest and "continued to try to explain to the defendant that he could not bring his son home and defendant continued to tell him to release his son and began to threaten" the officer, according to the complaint.
Paul then told the officer, "Don't force me to do the other thing." When asked what he meant by it, Paul allegedly said, "What do you mean, what do I mean?" Documents say the officer then asked Paul if he was going to pick up Richard's bike and backpack, Paul said, "I'm going to call the chief and you gonna be out of work," then hung up the phone.
Later, when officers were putting the bike into the squad car, Paul arrived at the scene and blocked the northbound lanes with his car. According to court documents, he then got out of his car and began telling the officers to release Richard from their custody. When both officers told Paul that they couldn't, he told them, "You're out of work."
Officers told Paul that he could go to the jail that night and bail Richard out, however, Paul told officers, "If I go tonight, you're both going to jail." When officers asked Paul by what he meant by that, according to the complaint, Paul wouldn't explain and got back into his car.
Paul then drove around in front of the officers and insisted that Richard be released and said, "It's gonna be easy or it's not gonna be easy."
Both officers then offered to help put Richard's bike into Paul's vehicle, but the city council member declined and then drove off, according to the criminal complaint.
A spokesperson for the City of Blaine confirmed to KARE 11 that Paul is still an active member of the city council.
The mayor of Blaine, Tim Sanders, told KARE 11 that he expects to address the incident during Monday night's city council meeting at 7:30.
Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany said he has viewed the body camera footage from the incident.
“We've received multiple comments and contacts from citizens who have expressed concern in regards to the incident involving Council Member Richard Paul," he told KARE 11. “We also expect a lot of our officers, who conducted themselves with the integrity that should be expected of law enforcement.”
According to the city's charter, the city council does not have the power to remove Paul from office.
The maximum sentence for misconduct of a public officer or employee is a year in jail and up to a $3,000 fine. The maximum sentence for code of ethics - standard of conduct misdemeanor charge is up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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